The Fireside University 




Modern Invention 
Discovery 
Industry and 
Art... 



Home 
Circle 

StUdy and 

Entertainment. 

WITH COMPLETE INDEXES. 

By JOHN McGOVERN. 



Chicago: * 
UNION PUBLISHING HOrSE. 

revised edition; 



tfGRESS, 

copt a 



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*1 








COPYRIGHTED BY 



M. B. DOWNER & CO, 

1898, 1900 and 1902. 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



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The Union Publishing House, J? 

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^pUBLISfteRS r 7 :> ReFftCe. 



The author of The Fireside University was requested to 
entirely avoid, if possible, a technical description of the arts, 
sciences and manufactures, and to write a book for the masses 
of the people. It is hoped that every person who can read and 
write may read this book with interest, and derive benefit from it. 

The advancement of science and invention has been so 
rapid, and the organization of labor has become so complex, 
that within a few decades the masses have been entirely shut 
away from a knowledge of the means by which their existence is 
made pleasant, comfortable, and even luxurious. It is the 
object of this book to supply some of this knowledge. 

The spirit of this book, and the need for it, are illustrated 
in the following fact: Covering one, two, three, four, five city 
blocks, there arises the enormous Glucose Factory, grinding 
one hundred thousand bushels of corn daily. The people look 
with wonder upon this rising and increasing pile of buildings 
(whose inmates seem to be forever at toil), with no thought that 
at the beginning there was only a chemist at work in his little 
laboratory, developing certain ideas. Between his ideas, his 
hopes, his glass tubes and his multitudinous apparatuses, and 
this monstrous concrete thing called the Glucose Factory, there 
is an astonishing gap in the people's knowledge. How did it 
come to develop so completely, before they had grasped even 
the idea of the chemist and the inventor? 



lv publisher's preface, 

The Glucose Factory gives us but a single illustration of what 
has happened on every side of us. The nickel-plated ornaments, 
the finely spun fabrics, the beautifully colored prints, the swiftly 
flying Street ear, the glowing splendor of the modern night lit 
with thousands of incandescent lamps, the astonishing cheapen- 
ing i if all articles that once were so costly that only a king could 
buy them — all these make chapters of marvelous charm, more 
certain of any reader's attention than the most fascinating novel 
ever written. Every page is full of curious and wonderful 
things. 

( )n the other hand such a book necessarily touches all the 
practical phases of our latest civilization. Incidentally the phy- 
sical needs of the human race are classified thus ; 

ist. Foods and food supplies of the world. 

2d. The clothing and sheltering of the human race. 

3d. Heating and lighting of the world. 

4th. The power supply of the world. 

5th. The modes and means of travel, traffic and the ex- 
change of thought. 

To each of these the highest inventive genius and most skill- 
labor have lent their energies, and in each of these great 
needs every thinking human being is deeply interested, 

We believe no other such book exists, and we present this 
w..rk for the inspection of the people, sincerely hoping that it 
may interest them, as being strictly in accord with the trend of 
modern general intellectual progress. 

The Publishers. 



...CONTENTS... 



ELECTRICITY, page. 

Philosophy and Theories of this Vast Subject. — The Law. — Morse's 
Telegraph. — The Ocean Cable, and How the Messages are 
Read.— The Ticker.— The Rogers Wheel.— Careful Explana- 
tion of the Theory of the Dynamo. — Induction, Magnets, 
Electro-Magnets, The Magnetic Field, Armature, Commu- 
tator.— The Sun, the Chief Magnet.— All About the Trolley 
Cars. — The Motor. — Elevated Electric Railroads. — Electric 
Bridge. — Something About Potentials, Accumulators, Con- 
densers, Plus, Minus. — All About Batteries. — Resistance and 
Heaters. — The Arc and Incandescent Lights. — Electric The- 
atre. — Electric Fountain. — Search Light. — Electric Meters. — 
Solenoids. — All About the Telephone. — Multipolar Magnets 
and Dynamos. — The Telephone Newspaper at Buda-Pesth. — 
The Theatrophone at Paris. — The Storage Battery. — Electric 
Launch. — Motorcycles. — All About the Telautograph for Writ- 
ing by Wire. — "Electrocution." — Electric Fan. — War and 
Electricity. — The Battleships, etc. — Tesla's Oscillator. — 
Thermo - Electricity.— Weed - Killers.— Brott's Railway.— The 
Kinetoscope and Its Developments. — The Chaining of Ni- 
agara. — The Gas Flash-Lighter. — Electro-plating, or Electrol- 
ysis. — Map-making. — Finally, the Telegraph Wire to be Used 
to See Through 17 

THE X RAY. 

Dr. Roentgen. — Account of his Discovery. — Its Genesis. — Stokes, 
Crookes, Geissler and Others. — Fluorescence and Phosphor- 
escence. — Rhumkorff. — Edison's Fluoroscope. — Davis' Bulb. — 
The Blind. — Edison's X Ray Lamp. — Tesla's Alternating Cur- 
rents. — Comets. — Marconi. — Bell's Radiophone 93 



vi 



CONTENTS, 



COMPRESSED AIR, net 



The Air-Brake —The Pneumatic Tube.— The Block Signal.— Com- 
pressed Air Power-Houses.— Compressed Air the only Compe- 
titor with Electricity as a Means of Transmitting Force.— The 
R,»ck Drill.— The Painting Machine.— The Caulker.— The Car 
Cleaner.— The Locomotive.— The Asphalt Refiner. — The Air 
Gun.— Wood-Pulp Silk.— The Coal Dump.— The Ash Dump.. . 105 

BREAD, CAKES AND PASTRY. 

On Bread.— Grinding Grain.— The Middlings Purifier.— Mill Explo- 
s. Wast. — "Vienna" Bread. — Corn and its Products. — 
K ve. —Rice.— Millet.— Bananas.— Barley.— Sago.— Tapioca. — 
Macaroni. — Corn Starch and How It Is Made. — Buckwheat. — 
Crackers.— Baking Powder and How It Is Made. — Graham 
Bread. — Beans 1 13 

BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 

Butter and the Trade in Butter. — The Creamery. — The Cream Separ- 
ator. — The Milk-Tester. — The Bible. — Cheese and Cheese- 
Making. — Roquefort, Edam, Schweizer. — DeBrie and Camem- 
bert. — Parmesan.— Schmir. — English Cheese. — Chiet Milk-giv- 
ing Animals. — All about Oleomargarine, etc. — Condensed 
Milk. — Kumyss 131 

FRUIT. 

The Apple, Pear, Peach, Apricot, Nectarine, Cherry. — The Straw- 
berry Trade. — Baskets and Boxes — The Raspberry, Black- 
berry, Blueberry. — The Grape.— The Citrus Family and Orange 
and Lemon Trades. — History ot the Subject — The Tomato. — 
The Canning Industry. — California Canned Fruits. — The Plum, 
Prune, Date, Currant, Gooseberry, Cranberry. — The Melon. — 
The Pineapple. — The Fig. — Cocoanuts 149 

NUTS. 

The Peanut, Chestnut, Walnut, Butternut, Hickory Nut, Hazel Nut, 

Almond, Brazil Nut, Pecan, Pistachio Nut 169 

SPICES. 

Pepper, Mustard, Horseradish, Ginger. — The Clove, Nutmeg and 
Mace. — Cinnamon.— Allspice. — Caraway. — Herbs. — How Mince 
Meat is Manufactured jy 2 



CONTENTS. VII 

COFFEE, TEA, ETC. page. 

Coffee, Its History and Culture. — Its Effects. — Tea, Its Culture in 
China and Elsewhere. — A Great Subject. — Brick Tea. — Choco- 
late, Another Great Trade. — Complete Description 181 

MEAT, ETC. 

The Union Stockyards at Chicago. — Description of the Slaughter- 
houses. — The Rabbi as a Butcher. — Cowboys 196 

PICK1VES, VINEGAR, ETC. 

The Great Pickle Factories at Pittsburg, Pa. — What Is Vinegar? — 
Theory of Acids. — How Vinegar is Made in Great Vinegar 
Factories 199 

SAI,T. 

Salt Is not a Salt— What Rock Salt Is— Theories of Life and Decay.— 
Salt as a Raw Material of Sodium and Chlorine. — The Greatest 
Use of Salt. — Salt Works. —History 207 

THE SPECTROSCOPE. 

Its Uses. — The Spectrum. — Interference. — Fraunhofer's Lines. — The 
Marks of Several of the Elements. — The Sun's Shining Spec- 
trum. — Star-Study. — Practical Uses of the Spectroscope 213 

CHEMISTRY. 

A Chapter of the Highest Importance. — The Elements. — Elements 
that are Gases, Liquids, Metals, Earths. — Elements that Life 
Must Have. — The Atomic Theory of John Dalton and Avo- 
gadro. — Compounds of Two and Three Elements. — Avogadro's 
Law. — The Crystal. — Specific Weight and Heat. — All About 
Symbols — Compound Radicles. — Valency. — Electricity in Com- 
pound Elements — Negative Elements. — Positive Elements. — 
The Meaning of ide, ate and ite, and tc and ous, at the Ends of 
Words. — Importance of Carbon. — Allotropy. — Making Dia- 
monds.— Why the Chemist's Tube is Full of Bulbs— The Chem- 
ist's Tools. — The Hydro-Carbons, including the Alcohols, the 
Ethers, the Aldehydes, the Ketones, the Organic Acids, the 
Anhydrides and Acid Halides, the Ethereal Salts, the Organo- 
Metallic Bodies, the Amines and all the Aniline Dyes at 
Length, the Amides. — Cyanogen. — Nitrogen. — Nitroglycerin, 



Mil I 1 \ I 5, 

CHEMISTRY.— Cont'd. rags 

imonia, Nitrates.— Oxygen, Ozone, Water and Its Remark - 

e Character.— The Halogens or Salt-Makers, Chlorine, 
and Fluorine. — Sulphur, Selenium and Tel- 
lurium. - Sulphuric Acid and Its Importance to the Nations. — 

mine. — Phosphorus. — Boron and Borax. — Silicon. — The 
,\i;. mm, Sodium, Lithium, Rubidium and Caesium 

and their Uses. — The Alkaline Earths, Calcium, Strontium 
and Barium. — The Magnesium Group, Including Zinc and 
Mercurv. — White Zinc as a Paint. — Asbestos. — Copper, Silver 
and Gold.— The Copper Half-tone Engraving.— The Gold 
Cure.— Gold Miner's Formula. — The Lead Group. — Lead 
Pipe. — Litharge. — -Aluminium and Its Manufacture at 
i. — Iron.— Chromium.— Manganese. — Cobalt. — Nickel. — 
The Costly Platinum Group. — The Tin Group. — Marvelous 
rjaes of Tin. — Making Tin Cans. — The Arsenic Group. — Tartar 

netic, Antimony, Bismuth, Etc. — The Tungsten Group. — The 
Cerium Group. — The Welsbach Light. — Table of the Elements, 
for Reference 225 

SUGAR. 

Chemical Nature of Sugar. — Saccharose and Glucose. — Sugar-mak- 
ing from Cane. — The Centrifugal Machines. — Diffusion and 
^ugar. — A Beet Sugar Factory. — Molasses. — Polariza- 
tion. — The Sugar Crystal. — Maple Sugar. — Glucose. — A Glu- 
ictory. — Sorghum. — Rock Candy. — Caramel. — Candy and 
Candy-making 295 

11 and Matter. — Bioplasm. — Protoplasm. — The Micro- 
scope.— The Amoeba. — A Great Subject 316 

THE BICYCLE. 

Man's Chief Instrument.— The Drop Forging. — The Frame not the 

Heaviest part of the Machine. — The Wheels, the Tires, etc. . 319 

SOAP. 

What Is Soap?— Its History. — Saltpeter.— Soap- Making. — Toilet 

Soap. — Castile Soap.— Transparent Soap 32^ 



CONTENTS. IX 

UGHT AND HEAT. page. 

Theory of Light.— Chassagne's Photographs.— The Colortypes.— The 
Stereoscope.— Heat.— Kerosene.— The Oil Wells.— The Pipes 
and Refineries.— Gas. — Coke.— Our Gas Meters.— The Pintsch 
Light on Railroad Cars.— " Natural Gas "—Coal.— Coal Min- 
ing. — Geology, — Peat. — Charcoal. — Electric Heat 330 

ICE. 

Ice Is Water from which Half the Heat has Been Taken. — Ice-mak- 
ing Machinery. — The Ice Factory ^50 

OUR CLOTHES. 

Antiquity of Cloth-Making.— Silk, the Worm, the Cocoon, tht. 
Threads, the Raw Silk-Throwing, Water in Silk, Scouring, 
Mourning Crape, the Wonderful Use of Tin, Artificial Silk, 
Satin. — History of Silk.— The Loom, its Antiquity, the Jacquard 
Loom, the Parts of a Loom, Why Looms are Noisy, Jacquard 
Cards. — Velvet Carpet. — Chinchilla. — Felt. — Gauze. — La:e. 
Cotton. — Its History ; the Cotton Gin, Spinning, the Machines, 
the Opener, the Lapper, the Scutcher, the Carding Engine, 
the Combing Machine, the Drawing Frame, the Slubbing 
Frame, the Roving Frame, the Throttle and the Mule-jenny; 
Arkwright and Hargreaves. — Thread and Thread-making; His- 
tory of Spools; Crotchet-Thread. — Lace on the Looms. — Looms 
in America. — Uses of Cotton Cloth. — Calico, the Press, Uses of 
Tin, Again; Finishing Calico; Uses of Chlorine. 

Wool. — Its Nature; the Scribbler; Wool Cloth-Finishing; Broadcloths 
and Meltons; Stuffs, Cassimeres,etc. ; Classification;- -Worsteds. 

Carpet- Weaving. — Ingrain, Brussells, Moquette and Wilton, Tapestry, 
Brussels, Axminster, etc. 

Felt.— How made; Felt Hats.— Silk Plush for Hats.— Shoddy. 

Linen. — Its Nature; Preparation of the Flax. — How Oil Cloth is Made 
and Printed. — Linoleum. — Lincrusta- Walton. — Straw Goods. — 
Textile Grasses. — The Textile Arts in General 355 

INDIA RUBBER. 

Its Nature. — Gutta Percha. — Uses of Rubber. — Caoutchouc. — Raw 
Material. — The Masticator. — Vulcanization. — Hose. — Balls.- — 
Woven-Goods. — Overshoes. — Clothes. — Combs. — False Teeth. — 
Goodyear and Mackintosh .408 



% CONTENTS. 

NEEDI/ES AND PINS. page 

How Needles are Made.— The Polish.— History of the Needle.— The 
Bewing Machine.— How Pins are Made.— Mourning Pins.— 

t y Pins.— What Becomes of the Pins ? , 416 

G1VASS. 

Ita Nature.— How to Make It.— Glass Molds.— Glass Blowing.— In- 
scriptions.— The Gluhey and the Leer.— Lead Glass.— Window 
Glass— The Blower.— Plate Glass.— Cut Glass.— Bohemian 
Ware.— Wire in Glass.— The Portland Vase 4 21 

PAPER. 

Its Nature, Uses and History.— Papyrus.— Wood Pulp from Spruoe 
Trees.— Its Manufacture.— Sulphite Fibre.— The Paper Ma- 
chine.— Rag Paper.— Calendared Paper.— Water Marks — 
Glaze.— Ruling.— Wall Paper— Papier Mache— False Faces... 429 

CHINA, ETC. 

Man's First Dish.— The Flower Pot —Why the Egyptians put Straw 
in their Bricks before Firing.— The Potter's W T heel.— The 
Glaze.— Stone Crocks. — What Makes Porcelain. — How we 
Learned from the Chinese.— Marco Polo.— Kaolin. — The Slip. — 
The Blue pictures on Chinese Ware. — The Kilns.— In Europe. — 
Interesting History.— Sevres.— Painting.— The Japanese. — 
American Kaolin.— Modern Colors. — Tiles. — Terra Cotta 437 

MATCHES. 

Prometheus.— The Lamp of Fire.— Starting Fire. — Flint and Steel 
—The Bottle-Matches.— The Locofocos.— Safety Matches. — 
Wood for Matches. — Machinery 453 

ASTRONOMY. 

Sir Isaac Newton.— The Universe. — Theory of its Shape. — The Moon. 
The Sun. — Sud Dogs. — Mercury. — Venus. — Life on Venus, if 
it Exists.— Orbit of the Earth. — The Atmosphere — The Moon 
Again.— The Moon is Dead. — Pictures of Mars. — Mars' Moons. 
Bode's Law. — The Asteroids. — Jupiter. — Jupiter's Eclipses. 
Saturn.— The Wonderful Rings of Saturn.— Saturn's Moons. 
inns. — Neptune. — The Finding of Neptune. — Herschel's 
Illustrations. — The Zodiac. — The Stars. — Celestial Distances. 
Parallax. — Calculi. — Illustration of a Simple Calculus. — Gravi- 
tation. — Account of Newton's Labors. — Halley and Bradley. 
Herschel. — Piazzi. — D'Alembert, Clairaut, and Euler. — Arago. 
Leverrier. — La Place.— His Great Book, called (t La Mecanique 
Celeste." — Its Contents.— Lord Rosse. — His Big Telescope. 
Proctor. — His Lectures. — The Leading Observatories. — Stan- 
ford. — Yerkes' Telescope.— Present Aspect oi the Science.. 459 






\ 



ANALYTICAL TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frontispiece. Page. 

ELECTRICITY. 

Scene in Metropolitan Power-House a I7 

Morse's First Telegraph 22 

Apparatus for Ocean Messages by Wire 24 

Diagram ofthe Above Apparatus 2£ - 

The Rogers' Typewriter Preparing Tape 27 

1 View of Type Arms 27 

2 Type Magnified 27 

Transmitting the Dispatch 2 3 

Windlass Plunge Carbon-Zinc Battery for Gold, Silver, Nickel-Plat- 

ing, Electric Light, Etc ? 29 

First Brush Arc Dynamo, 1877 ~ Q 

16-Ivight, 2,000 Candle Power, Brush Arc Dynamo, Used Fourteen 

Years -- 

Diagram to Illustrate the Theory of the Brush Dynamo 34 

Armature, Commutator and Pulley End a 2 c 

Armature, Core and Commutator a -~ 

A Multipolar (Many Poles) Dynamo ^ 7 

Negro's First Electric Motor ~g 

A Thomson-Houston Stationary Motor 40 

A Trolley Train in the Coal Regions 42 

The Chloride Accumulator as Used in Modern Great Plants 44 

The Electrical Machinery Which Propels the Trolley Car a 41 

Zipernowsky's Early Lamp c 

The Brush Light 5I 

Stages in the Making of Incandescent Lamps r 2 

Electric Fountain «-S 

The Search Light and its Electric Arc Light 6 

Maxim's Meter 5^ 

Bel^s Second Telephone 64 

Gray's Telephone 6<r 

Bell's Receiver 6 7 



xii TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CTRICITY. — Cont'd. Page - 

II 's Telephone Mouth-Piece 68 

Blake's Transmitter 6 9 

Bdison's Carbon Speaking Telephone 7° 

Plante'fl Battery | Paris) as lie Perfected It Before he Died 72 

Samples of Telantographic Writing 74 

The Telautograph — Transmitting and Receiving Instrument a 73 

Tesla's Oscillator 79 

Taking Photographs and Words for the Kinetoscope-Phonograph. . 82 

1 The Five Thousand Horse Power Dynamo at Niagara , . . 84 

2 Cross Section of Same 84 

3 Interior of Power-House and Wheel Pit 84 

Dynamo, Hand-Power, for Electroplating, Etc 88 

Tin-: X Ray. 

Portrait of Dr. Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen 94 

A Fancy Geissler Tube 96 

Apparatus for X Ray, with Fluoroscope a 97 

Portrait of Thomas A. Edison a 101 

Edison 's X Ray Lamp 101 

Bell's Radiophone 102 

Bell's Selenium Cell 103 

The Ruhmkorfl Coil 104 

Compressed Air. 

The Rand Direct-Acting Air Compressor 107 

Rock Drilling with Compressed Air 108 

Bread, Etc. 

Planting Rice IT2 

Kuni's Apparatus for Testing the Baking Value of Flour 116 

The Rice Plant 119 

Malay Women Pounding and Sifting Rice 120 

Transplanting Rice 121 

Rice Mill at Saeong 124 

Digestor for Starch Determination 126 

itf.k, Cheese, Etc. 

Koenig's Apparatus for Distinguishing Margarine from Butter 131 

Krocker's Cream Measurer 132 

xhlet's Apparatus for Determining fat in Milk 134 

Iiabcock's Milk-Testing Apparatus 135 

A Cheese Grotto at Bertrich-Baden 136 

Amagat-Jean's Oleo-Refractroscope for Testing Butter or Oils 137 

Cheshire Cheese Press 140 



TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii 

Fruit. pagb 

Gathering Dates s . . . . 148 

Spicks. 

The Pepper Plant 172 

Chinese Ginger Plant 174 

Branch from a Cinnamon Tree 176 

Tea, Coffee, Etc. 

The Coffee Market of Pagen-Alam, Malaysia 180 

The Coffee Plant and Its Parts 183 

A Coffee Estate in Ceylon 185 

The Tea Plant 187 

Vinegar, Etc. 

Twitchell's Apparatus for Determining the Strength of Vinegar. . . 201 

Salt. 

Interior of a Salt Mine , , 206 

Spectroscope. 

The Spectroscope 2i3 

Obtaining a Spectrum 214 

Principles of the Spectroscope — 1 Prism. 2 Tube Through which 

the Light Passes. 3 Eye Pieces. 4 Scale 214 

Spectral Apparatus for Showing Spectral Lines on a Screen 215 

Browning's Spark Condenser to Make Sparks for Spectral Analysis 217 
Herrmann's Hsemoscope, or Blood-Testing Apparatus 218 

Chemistry. 

Prof. Liebig in His Laboratory 224 

Christomann's Apparatus for Discovering the Melting Point, with 

Electric Signal 227 

Humboldt in His Study , 228 

Prof. Jolly's Apparatus for Determining the Specific Gravity of 

Minerals 229 

Westfall's Apparatus for Obtaining the Specific Gravity of Liquids. 230 

Lux's Balance for Weighing Gases 230 

Bunsen's Apparatus for Obtaining the Volume of Chlorine 231 

Apparatuses for Determining Molecular Weight 232 

Wollaston's Reflecting Angle Measurer for Crystals 234 

Apparatus for Comparing the Specific Heat of any Two Bodies 235 

Thermometer Measuring as High as 2,700 degrees above zero, Fah- 
renheit 242 



XIV TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Chemistry.— Cont'd. page. 

Automatic Low Pressure Air Pump for the distillation of metals 

and Unstable Substances in the Hydro-Carbons 243 

Instructive View of Chemical Apparatus 244 

Apparatus to Find the Quantity of Alcohol in Beverages, Etc 245 

Apparatus for Determining the Ammonia in Plants and Vegetable 

Extracts 248 

WoulfFs Colorometer for Inspecting Aniline Dyes 249 

A Nitrogen Bulb 252 

Apparatus for Quick Analysis of Air, Etc 252 

Schellbach's Apparatus for Measuring Nitrogen in Gun Cotton and 

Other Explosives 253 

Apparatus for the Manufacture of Ammonia 253 

Apparatus for Analyzing the Soil 254 

WoulfFs Bottle for Hydrogen 255 

McLeod's Air Gauge for Measuring Air Pressure Down to Ten- 

millionths of the Atmosphere 255 

A Distillery for Water 256 

Apparatus for Measuring the Volume of Hydrogen 257 

Kcehler's Gas Generator for Making Chlorine 258 

Machine for Measuring the Volume of the Element Fluorine 259 

The Crater of Vesuvius 260 

Apparatus for Finding and Measuring Sulphur 261 

Mitscherlich's Apparatus for the Determination of Phosphorus 264 

Platinum Apparatus for Assaying Precious Metals 283 

Marsh's Apparatus for Determining Arsenic 287 

Sugar. 

Sugar, from Field to Hogshead 294 

Sugar Cane Afloat 296 

Apparatus for Measuring the Calcium in Sugar 298 

Centrifugal Sugar Machines 299 

Dubose-Soliel's Apparatus for Color- Analysis of Sugar 300 

Apparatus for Finding the Alkalinity of Sugar 302 

Szombathy's Apparatus for Determining the Sugar in Beets 304 

Apparatus for the Exact Analysis of Sirups and Molasses 306 

The Polariscope a 306 

Triple Effect Evaporation 311 

Light and Heat. 

How Professor Pepper Made His Celebrated Ghost 329 

The Stereopticon 332 

Tagliabue's Apparatus for Testing Coal Oil 335 

Diagram of a Steel Rig for Drilling Oil Wells 336 



TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 

Light and Heat. — Cont'd. page. 

Apparatus for Illustrating the Manufacture of Illuminating Gas .... 340 

The Rose-Hastings Coal-Gas Apparatus 341 

Apparatus for Gas Analysis 342 

Ice. 

Ice- Making Machine € 352 

Clothes, Etc. 

Cotton from Field to Factory. 354 

Pre- historic Flax Cloth from a Lake Dwelling 355 

Silk Fibres on the Microscope's Slide 356 

Silk-Secreting Apparatus in the Worm 357 

Apparatus for Stifling the Silk Worm 358 

Conditioning Apparatus 360 

Japanese Silk Operatives Feeding Silk Worms a 361 

Silk Worm Rearing Establishment 364 

Loom, 500 years B. C, showing Beam with Threads Hanging Open 

— From a Greek Vase. — Penelope 366 

Turkish Women Weaving Rugs 367 

Loom of an East Indian, Still in Use 368 

A Japanese Silk Loom a 369 

Power Loom 369 

Hand Loom 370 

Cotton Fibre 374 

Three-Cylinder Cotton Opener, Beater and Lap Machine 377 

Cotton Slubbing Frame 378 

Cotton Drawing Frame 380 

Cotton Roving Frame 382 

Throstle with Spindles and Flyers for Coarse Cotton Spinning 383 

Self- Acting Mule for Fine Cotton Spinning 385 

Continuous Hank Drying Machine (Cotton) 386 

A Lace-Maker at Work . . 388 

Wool Fibre 392 

Wool Scribbler, with Diagrams 393 

Woolen-Cloth Open-Width Scouring Machine 394 

Mixing- Willey for Shoddy 399 

A. Flax Plant. B. Flower. C. Fruit 401 

Flax Spinners 402 

The Jute Plant 406 

India Rubber. 

The India Rubber Plant 409 



xvi TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Glass. page. 

Fashioning Glass Shades , 422 

Molding Common Tumblers 423 

China. 

The Potter 436 

The Slip House 440 

The Dipping Room 443 

Gilding the Porcelain 445 

Porcelain — Biscuit Scouring 447 

Matches. 

Starting Fire , 454 

Astronomy. 

Sir Isaac Newton , . . . , 458 

Parhelia, or Mock Suns 462 

Orbit of the Earth 466 

The Aspects of Mars 474 

The Constellation Orion .. f 538 





18. SCENE IN THE METROPOLITAN ELEVATED POWER HOUSE, CHICAGO, ILL, 

800 and 1500 Kilowatt Direct-Driven Railway Generators. 






m 



JL. Electricity. 



>TttTftTiJL 




WW 






W^#/ w Electricity ? 

It is believed to be one of the many demonstrations of what 
may plainly be called physical force. 

What are the other leading demonstrations of physical 
force ? 

They are called Motion, Heat, Light, Magnetism and 
Chemical Affinity. 

Are there still other forms of force ? 

Yes. Gravitation, Inertia, Aggregation and Animal Life 
itself. 

What is the doctrine of the conservation and correlation of 
forces ? 

It is a theory, promulgated as early as January, 1842, by 
William Robert Grove, and in 1843 advocated or demonstrated 
by Dr. J. P. Joule, both Englishmen, to the effect that light, 
heat, motion, electricity, etc., can be turned into one another 
without loss — in other words, that both motion and matter are 
indestructible. 

When did this theory become common with all classes of the 
people? 

As early as 1870. 

Will you describe Electricity as Grove described it? 

11 Electricity is that affection of matter or mode of force which 
most distinctly and beautifully relates other modes of force, and 

2—17 



18 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

exhibits, to a great extent in a quantitative form, its own relation 
with them, and their reciprocal relations with it, and with eacn 
other." 

To w hat form of force can you most readily liken it? 

To the X ray. Electricity is invisible, formless, without taste 
or smell, and acts through bodies of matter. 

Why is it, so far as the people are concerned, the most* inter- 
e sting form of force? 

Because there is a likelihood that Electricity will furnish 
light, heat, transportation and traction power, news-transmission, 
and possibly medical aid to all the people. 

Should such results be accomplished, what good would follow ? 

The hard labor of the world would be reduced almost to 

zero, and the mental progress of the people would be enhanced. 

What cosmic theory seems to flourish most generally zvith the 
scientist ? 

The etheric theory, which supposes that all bodies of matter 
are comparatively loose aggregations of atoms (molecules), 
through which the ether moves as easily as water through 
gravel. 

What follows ? 

It may be that each molecule revolves in its own orbit or 
vortex. Certain forces may make the atoms go round one 
way and other forces may reverse the motion. 

What other actio7i may take place t 

Certain forces may decompose the molecules, causing them 
to unite differently. 

When Electricity is used as this decomposing force, what is the 
act of decomposition called '? 

Electrolysis. Here is the theory of Grotthus: Two plates 
of opposing metals — say a sheet of zinc and a sheet of copper — 
are immersed in sour water after the manner of the Voltaic 
battery. One of the sheets of metal attracts the molecule 
of oxygen in the nearest molecule of water, and the oxygen 
separates from the hydrogen which is its companion. This 



ELECTRICITY. \Q 

hydrogen, thus left alone, goes over and joins the next water 
molecule, which forces away some more hydrogen, to go 
to the next molecule, and so across to the other metal plate, the 
so-called current being nothing else than this molecular 
movement. This, you will notice, presupposes that water 
is a mass of hydrogen-oxygen molecules poised in the etheric 
fluid or medium. 

What is Catalysis ? 

It is the name of a class of remarkable phenomena. For 
instance: — Oxygen is a gas; so is hydrogen. Mix these two 
gases and they will remain in an unaltered state. Introduce 
a thin sheet of platinum, and the gases will combine, but 
no change whatever has taken place in the platinum. 

Where does the word Electricity originate ? 

In the Greek word Electron — that is, amber. Amber was one 
of the chief articles of commerce with the Phoenicians, before 
the days of the Greeks. The Phoenicians had a route across 
Europe from Lyons to the North Sea, where they gathered 
the gum. Thales, the Greek philosopher, 600 B. C, studied the 
attractive power of amber when rubbed. 

Was amber the only body that could be rendered attract- 
ive by rubbing ? 

No, it was eventually found that if any two bodies were rub- 
bed the one might attract and the other repel light substances, 
such as hairs and feathers. Thus, Electricity came to be called 
positive and negative, and in the books of to-day the Electricity 
set up in glass is called positive or plus and that set up in 
resins is called negative or minus. Two plus bodies repel 
each other. Two minus bodies repel each other. One minus 
body repels a non-electric body. All other combinations in 
which one plus body enters attract each other. 

Is the electrical spark Electricity ? 

No. Grove early taught that there could be no emanation 
of the electric fluid, for, in his opinion, no fluid existed. Two 
electrodes, after contact and gradual separation, could in those 
days be widened (in a vacuum) as much as seven inches, 



20 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



and the brilliant light would travel across in a steady stream. 
This light was discovered by Grove to be an emission of 
the matter itself from the point whence the fire issued, and 
a molecular action of the medium, (air, gas or ether) across 
which the light was transmitted. Thus the streak of lightning 
is red-hot air. The color of the Voltaic arc— {Arc here means 
the streak of fire, because in the days of Sir Humphrey Davy, 
when the metal electrodes or carbon candles were always held 
horizontally, the fire in crossing curved upward, an action 
due to atmosphere and earth magnetism) — this color varies 
with the metal used for the transmission of the Electricity. 
With zinc, the light is blue; with silver, green; with iron, 
red. A portion of the metal is also found to be transmitted 
with the discharge. 

Is the arc light an ignition or a combustion ? 

Not strictly either. The matter which separates is more than 
heated, therefore it is not ignition. It is not combustion, 
for the arc will play in a vacuum, or without air, oxygen, or 
any of the bodies usually necessary when matter is chemically 
united with the attendant phenomena of light and heat. Again, 
in a vacuum, the electrodes deposit their particles on the inside 
of the receiver, and these particles are in an unaltered state. 

What hypothesis would it be wise for the unscientific student 
or thinker to adopt concerning force ? 

It may be recommended, as the simplest plan, to regard 
the Sun as the original engine of force, and what we call Light 
as the means of transmission of the sun's force to the Earth. 
Then every demonstration of force that we see had its origin in 
the Sun, and was stored in the Earth before it was liberated, or 
unbalanced. Thus useful Electricity is always obtained at 
a great expenditure of other power, and only with attendant 
loss. When the amber was rubbed, the power used in rubbing 
it was conserved or stored in the amber, ready to be liberated 
into the body of matter that was in the best state of affinity. 

When the amber ivas rubbed y would the amount of rubbing 
make any difference, and would a piece of amber give off more 
or less pozver? 



ELECTRICITY. 21 

Yes. It was early determined that the terms Resistance, 
Electro-motive Force, Capacity, Quantity, Work, Induction 
and Power might be distinctively applied to bodies that had 
been rubbed, or to bodies that were contributory or dependent 
on the rubbed bodies of matter. As electrical science developed, 
it became as necessary to measure by these terms as to 
measure wheat by the bushel or cloth by the yard. 

What is the system of electrical measurement? 

The fifty-third Congress of the United States, in 1894, passed 
a law that establishes and defines (1) the ohm as the unit of 
resistance; (2) the ampere as the unit of current; (3) the volt as 
the unit of electro-motive force; (4) the farad as the unit of ca- 
pacity; (5) the coulomb as the unit of quantity: (6) the Joule as 
the unit of work; (7) the Watt as the unit of power; (8) the 
Henry as the unit of induction. 

Do these names have any historical significance ? 

Yes. They honor the memories of George Simon Ohm, of 
Cologne, Germany, who discovered the law of electric currents, 
in 1827; of Andre Ampere, of Paris, who applied the term elec- 
tro-dynamics to his discoveries in 1826; of Alessandro Volta, of 
Italy, who invented the Voltaic pile in 1792, of Charles Au- 
gustin de Coulomb, of Paris, who invented the Torsion Balance 
about 1779; °f Michael Faraday, the great English experi- 
menter ; of James P. Joule, of England, one of the founders of 
the theory of the correlation of forces ; of James Watt, inventor 
of the steam engine; and, finally, of Professor Joseph Henry, of 
Princeton College, New Jersey, who invented the first electrical 
engine or machine, and died in 1878. After concluding this 
chapter, you would do well to return and review these two par- 
agraphs. 

Can these measures be clearly and briefly defined in con/won 
language? 

No. Excepting that the coulomb, or unit of quantity, is legally 
declared to be the quantity of electricity transferred by a cur- 
rent of one ampere in one second of time. 



22 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Proceed now to the useful features of the Electric Age. 

The first and perhaps the most important invention was the 
Electric Telegraph. Benjamin Franklin sent a kite into the 
skies and obtained the electric spark from the key at the end 
of the wet string immediately after a thunder-clap. It was 
thus shown that Electricity acted through the wet kite-string, 
Franklin's discovery created a sensation at Paris, where he had 
many political and scientific friends and admirers. 




Fig. I. MORSE'S FIRST TELEGRAPH. 



ELECTRICITY. 23 

Who was Morse? 

Samuel Finley Breece Morse was a portrait-painter, and Pres- 
ident of the New York National Academy. But at Yale College 
he had attended the scientific lectures of Professor Silliman, who 
had been sent to Europe by the Puritans to learn science with- 
out departing from the colonial religion. Morse was returning 
from Europe a second time when he heard on shipboard that 
the scientists of Paris "had sent a spark of Electricity through 
a wire from magnet to magnet.'' It is said that, on hearing this 
news, and understanding that the armature of the magnet could 
be pulled back and forth across the space where the spark 
leaped, Morse went into his stateroom and invented the tele- 
graphic "key" or lever and dot-dash-space system of signals by 
which the world for fifty years transmitted its news. 

What did Morse do next ? 

Arriving in New York he made his machines, — for the dots 
and dashes were to be impressed on strips of paper, as it was 
not then known that the human ear could readily understand 
their significance. Men of middle-age can recall the strips of 
paper at the railroad stations where the telegraph was first used. 
These strips were like those now used for the "ticker." Morse 
secured for a business partner, Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell 
University, and Congress appropriated forty thousand dollars 
for the experiments. With this money a wire was strung from 
Washington to Baltimore. The first message was sent May i, 
1843, and the machine, as well as the strip of paper on which 
the first message was impressed, was exhibited in the east gal- 
lery of the Electricity Building at the World's Fair of 1893. The 
tape and clock train were abandoned in practical work as early 
as 1864. In 1858, a Congress of European Commissioners pre- 
sented Professor Morse with a purse of eighty thousand dollars. 
The great inventor died in 1872. 

Wh:zt was the next important development of the Telegraph ? 

The Atlantic Ocean cable, laid in 1857, which broke almost 
immediately, was the work of Cyrus Field, who subsequently 
became the chief promoter of this form of enterprise. There 
was no ocean cable during the civil war in America. The first 



24 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

success was attained in 1866, and afterward, with John Pender, 
of London, Field laid cables all over the world, and acquired 
an enormous fortune, which was seriously impaired late in his 
life. He died in 1895, and John Pender in 1896. 

How arc Electric Ocean Cables made ? 

In various ways. By Professor William Thomson's improved 
method, the core is a strand of fine copper wires, say seven 
in number, which are themselves made sticky with tar, resin 
and gutta percha. This core is then wrapped by several coat- 
ings of gutta percha, generally four. In applying the first coat- 
ing care is taken to exclude bubbles of air, as these would work 
to the surface in the deep sea, puncturing the strongest cable. 
After the four coatings, the cable is stored in a tank of 
water and tested with currents of Electricity. It is then 
w r rapped with tarred jute, or yarn, or hemp — called the "soft 
bed" for the sheath. Soft iron sheathing wires, themselves 
covered with two servings of tarred canvas tape or tarred hemp t 
are now twisted on the cable. All these twistings and envelop- 
ings are done by machinery. 



Fig. 2. APPARATUS FOR OCEAN MESSAGES BY WIRE. 

How is tJie cable paid into ship ? 

It goes into a steel tank with a cone in the centre. Each 
layer of cable, called a u flake," is covered with boards. The 




Fig. 11. ARMATURE COMPLETE. COMMUTATOR END. 




Fig. 12. ARMATURE COMPLETE. PULLEY END. 



ELECTRICITY. 



%h 



cable goes out of ship over a "bow-sheave/* and a dynamometer 
registers the amount of tension on the cable. When the cable 
breaks, the ship sinks a grapnel to the bottom and drags 
the bottom until the dynamometer shows that the thing pulling 
is a cable and not a rock or ooze. The North Atlantic has 
eleven cables lying on its bottom, Africa is surrounded. The 
120,000 miles of cable in operation in 1897 had cost $200,000,000. 
The steamship Great Eastern laid the first one. 

How are cable messages read? 

A lamp is lit in a dark chamber. Its rays strike a small mir- 
ror, which is moved by the feeble current in the cable. The 
rays are reflected back upon a fine scale, and thus the meaning 
of the mirror's movements is made apparent. (See Figs. 2 and 
3.) The rays of the lamp pass through a slit m mi, and 
into a lens L. The scale is at t t. The mirror S is swung 
on silk threads, and responds to the current in the 
coil that wraps the standard supporting the mirror. When 




Fig. 3. DIAGRAM OF THE APPARATUS. 



there is no current, the ray is in the centre of the scale at zero. 
To operate this apparatus through the longest cable, only 
a small Voltaic battery is required. 

Did Morse invent the word Telegraph ? 

No. The telegraph was in use in Europe during the time of 
Louis XIV., and St. Simon speaks of it. Signals were sent by 
semaphore, but could only be operated in good weather. 






THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



What improvements have been made in the art of Telegraphy ? 

We may mention the multiplex system, by which many mes- 
sages are sent on the same wire at the same time, the "Wall 
eet Ticker, " the recent improvements on the original ticker, 
by which all sorts of news are delivered to the subscriber in leg- 
ibly printed form, with wide lines, and the still more recent Ro- 
gers Synchronous wheel. 

What is Multiplex ? 

A telegraph wire runs, say, from Chicago to St. Louis. At 
each end of the wire branches are run to various receiving in- 
struments, Pairs of vibrators (buzzers), opening and closing 
the lines with great rapidity, are going at each pair of end keys 
— that is, branch No. i at Chicago, has a vibrator going that acts 
("sings") in exactly the same time (and tone) with branch No. 
i at St. Louis. The vibrators for branch No. 2 are alike, but 
different in time from those of No. 1. If we suppose that the 
current in the wire acts like waves on the water, then we may 
understand that we could start all sorts of waves in the water, 
some on top of the others. The instrument set to record the 
little waves will hear only those. That is, the current is a set of 
the smallest waves that go over the wire. So when a signal is 
sent through these little waves, only the operator with the in- 
strument set for little waves hears it. His instrument does not 
act for any of the other waves that are passing in the main wire. 
So far as he knows, there is only one message on the wire, and 
that is the one he is receiving. Edison discovered and first 
worked on this principle. 

What is the history of the Stock Ticker? 

It was called Law's Gold Indicator, when it was brought out 
in Wall street, to publish the latest quotations for gold on the 
Exchange — for from 1862 until 1879 gold was at a premium over 
11 greenbacks " in America. The Ticker is still used, under a 
large glass bulb. The subscriber pays so much rent, and the 
inspector brings rolls of paper tape and keeps the inking ribbon 
in order. The type-writing machine, with its ribbon, is a direct 
outgrowth of this invention. The wheel or wheels on which the 






ELECTRICITY. 



M 



type are carried are operated by electric currents, and a weight 
and apparatus which is now self-winding gives the printing 
force to the instrument. Colahan, Phelps and others improved 
this very useful machine, which carries the market-prices of 
staples and securities all over the United States. The Ex- 
changes of other nations have always been without this conve- 
nience. 

What is the Rogers Synchronous Wheel ? 

It is a new invention, first put in operation by the United 
States Postal Printing Telegraph Company. First the message 




Fig. 4. ROGERS' TYPEWRITER PREPARING TAPE. 

is printed on a Rogers Typewriter, which prepares or perforates 




Fig 5. A VIEW OF TYPEARMS. B TYPE MAGNIFIED. 



28 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

a tape. This tape is then put on the Synchronous Wheel, and a 
wheel at the other end of the line reproduces the tape. The 
Synchronous Wheel operates on the principle of Gally's auto- 
matic wind music, the perforated paper serving as a guide for 
the eight styluses that pass over the ribbon. The reproduction 




Pit?. 6. TRANSMITTING THE DISPATCH. 

of the message at the other end is automatic, and depends on 
the speed at which the wheels are run. Five hundred words 
have been transmitted in a minute. 

Is the Morse key still in use ? 

Yes. At the operating rooms of the great Exchanges, the po- 
litical conventions, race-tracks, ball games, and outdoor sports 
generally, the Morse process is usually seen, although the re- 
ceivers now-a-days use a type writer wherever convenient, and 
thus issue the message in a more legible form. Various cipher 
codes for shortening phrases are of course in use. Most Board 
of Trade and Stock Exchange firms, also, use their own cipher 
codes in sending and receiving dispatches. The Morse Telegraph 
in 1897, as for fifty years before, was an essential element of 
commercial and financial operations. 

How swiftly does Electricity act in the best mediums? 

It is said that it will act through 700,000 miles of the 
best copper wire in one second. The usual speed is stated 
to be 192,000 miles a second. But messages through an ocean 
cable are received slowly, through light-signals thrown on 
a screen in a dark room. No cable crosses the Pacific Ocean, 
but telegraphic messages may be sent from San Francisco 



ELECTRICITY. 



29 



to New Zealand, and defaulting criminals have thus been 
apprehended. 

All that you have described so far is accomplished without a 
steam engine or other power ? 

Yes. Only batteries made of jars of water and acids with 
plates of metal are needed. The decomposition of the metals 




Fig. 7. BATTERY. 

and water sets up currents of Electricity in the wires that 
run out of and into the batteries. Dynamos have lately come 
into use, however. 

What is the next most important triumph in Electricity ? 

The making of the Dynamo, through a study of the laws of 
Induction. 

What is Induction? 

If the force of Electricity be set at work in a certain con- 
ductor, it will often set up a line of action in a neighboring but 
not a connecting conductor. The needle of a mariner's com- 



30 



E FIRESIDE CXIVERSITV 




Fig. 8. FIRST BRUSH ARC DYNAMO 1877. 



pass will turn at right angles to the direction of a current 
of Electricity, if brought within the field of Induction. 

Why is Induction t !ly important in a popular sense t 

Because it is a chief element in the success of the Dy- 
namo. This machine 
was first made by 
Pixii. It was varied 
and improved by 
Ritchie, S ax ton, 
Clark, Von Ettings" 
hausen, St oh re r, 
Dove, Wheatstone — 
and finally by Sie- 
mens, Halske, Brush, 
Edison, Burgin, 
Crompton, Weston, Thomson, Houston, Westinghouse, Tesla 
and others. If a irire or conductor moves across a Magnetic 
Field, a current of Electricity passes through the wire. 

What is a Magnet t 

The Magnet that man first found was an iron ore called 
the lode-stone — the protoxide of iron. The Greeks mined it in 
the region called Magnesia, hence the name of Magnet. It 
would attract pieces of iron, etc., if they came within a certain 
distance. Within this distance was called the Magnetic Field. 
Upon your understanding of the existence and importance 
of this Magnetic Field depends the entire value of this chapter, 
for the very principle of modern Electricity lies in the mak- 
ing of Magnetic Fields and the rapid pushing of circuits of wire 
through those Fields. 

s the first great use to which this loadstone was putt 

It was used to point north and south in the Red and Mediter- 
ranean Seas. The Arabs introduced the mariner's compass 
into Spain, and thus the great ocean voyages of Vasco, Colum- 
bus and Magellan became possible. On the way to an under- 
standing of the Dynamo, let us note that every Magnet has 
a north and a south end or pole. The north end will repel the 



ELECTRICITY. 31 

north end of another Magnet, and attract the south end. The 
Magnet is bent into the form of a horse-shoe merely in order to 
get the attractive effect of both poles at once. A straight Mag- 
net is just as much of a Magnet. 

H hat important thing is first to be said of the Magnetic Field 
of a Magnet? 

Lines of Force circulate in it, and through the Magnet. If we 
lay a straight Magnet flat on a table, lay a sheet of paper on the 
Magnet, a sheet of glass on the paper, and sprinkle fine iron 
filings from a pepper-box evenly over the glass, and gently tap 
the glass while sprinkling the filings, they will arrange them- 
selves along the Lines of Force of that Magnet. Many circular 
lines will be formed, of which the Magnet-bar itself is the 
diameter, while other lines will radiate from each pole. It is 
supposed that the molecules within the bar of steel (the Magnet) 
arrange themselves in order, like the filings, wherever a Line 
of Force traverses the bar. Faraday made a wonderful study 
of these Lines of Force. The Magnetic Field is the most im- 
portant thing that is yet known of Electricity. More Electricity 
can be gathered by mere Induction to unconnected wires than 
can be gathered by any sort of rubbing or friction. Remember 
that it is not ordinary friction that causes the currents of Elec- 
tricity that move with so much power nowadays. Metals are 
merely moved with great swiftness and frequency near other 
metals, the second ones having been previously magnetized. 

How did the electricians improve the ordinary steel magnet ? 

They invented the Electro-Magnet, which is a rod or bar of 
soft iron wound with small wrapped wire. Through this little 
helical wire a current of electricity is sent, when the bar of soft 
iron within becomes a powerful Magnet, setting up strong Lines 
of Force, but ceasing to act as a Magnet as soon as the current 
ceases in the little wire. The Electro-Magnet was invented 
seventy years ago. Prof. Oersted, of Copenhagen, had discov- 
ered that the magnetic needle would turn at right angles to the 
direction of a current in a wire, if brought within the Magnetic 
field. 



32 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Proceed to the Dynamo. 

We now have our Electro-Magnet, with its Magnetic Field, in 
which Lines of Force, like X rays, are playing, and piercing 
matter as easily as air. We say "playing" and ''piercing," 
though it is not known that the lines move. We opine that In- 
duction is the result of Lines of Force — that is, if one wire 
without a current receive a current from a parallel charged wire, 
the Lines of Force were set up in little circles, whose circumfer- 
ences touched the two wires, and set their molecules in line 
crosswise of the wires. We now come to the wire or wires 
which are themselves to be set in motion in the Magnetic Field, 
so that currents will be set up in those moving (rotating) wires. 

First describe the simplest Dynamo that could be made ? 

We would set the north pole of any Magnet before us c We 
would fit a yard or two of wire together at the ends (making a 
hoop) for a "closed circuit. " We would take hold of the wire 
with both hands, stretching a couple of feet of the wire out 
straight. We would lower our two hands past the north pole 
of the Magnet, not touching it, the wire stretching from hand 
to hand, and the pole being at one time between the hands, 
and a current would pass around the wire in one direction. We 
would lift the wire up past the Magnet again, and a current 
would pass over the wire in the opposite direction. 

How can we increase the power of this Dynamo ? 

In three ways. First, by making a stronger Magnet; second, 
by increasing the number of wires passed before the Magnet; 
third, by passing the wire faster. And this is the principle of 
the machines which send power to-day over such vast areas of 
territory. 

What is Armature ? 

It is armor. The word was first used to describe what is now 
called the "keeper" — the bar of iron which, when put on the 
poles of a horse-shoe Magnet, would hold the magnetism in the 
" horse-shoe." Next, it was applied to any bar that moved back 
and forth from the poles of the Magnet. Now it is applied to 
the built-up shaft (see Figs, n and 12) which revolves on the 



1 







Fig. 13. ARMATURE CORE. 




Fig. 14. COMMUTATOR. 



ELECTRICITY. 



33 



great Dynamos inside their many (multipolar) Magnetic Fields. 
Let us suppose a belt coming from a steam engine to this shaft, 
and acting on a small wheel so that the shaft will go very swiftly. 




Fig, 9. 16 LIGHT, 2000 CANDLE POWER. BRUSH ARC DYNAMO. 
USED FOURTEEN YEARS. 



Next let us see how the shaft is built up. The Laminated 
Core is first built. On the slim steel shaft is put a heavy cast- 
iron disk, in which are bolt-holes. Then a mica-disk is strung 
on; then a thin sheet-iron disk; then mica again, and thin sheet 
iron again, until at last a second heavy cast-iron plate finishes. 
Then these disks are bolted together and the whole shaft turned 
smooth in a lathe. This is done to secure a cool shaft, or it 
would set up so many currents of its own that it would burn 
out. (See Figs, n and 12.) 

What come next ? 

The wires — just as we passed the wire in the Magnetic Field 
before the Magnet — are now to be passed, only with extraordi- 
nary speed and in great numbers. They are cut in pieces as long 
as the set of disks, and each heavy wire is covered with some 



34 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



body of matter that does not readily carry Electricity. As the 
Roman bundle of sticks could not be broken when bound 
together, so the union of all these short wires increases their 




FIG. 10, DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE THEORY OF THE 
BRUSH DYNAMO. 

The bobbins Al and A5 are two opposite coils, oonnected to a slit collar. Each pair 
of opposite coils is similarly connected with its own collar, and all the collars are grouped 
in two sets, forming the commutators Cl, C2; Al and A5 are connected with the first collar, 
A3 and Al with the second, A2 and A6 with the third, and A4 and A8 with the fourth. The 
collars 1 and 2 form the first, and the oollars 3 and 4 the second commutator. The upper 
brush of the first and the lower of the second commutator lead to the arms of magnets, 
the others to the outer circuit. When the bobbins Al A5 are passing between the poles of 
the magnets, the current passes as follows: Starting from the bobbin Al, it passes to Cl, 
thence through the brush Bl, to the electro magnets N2, Kl, Si, S2, in order, and thenback to 
B2 and the commutator C2, thence through the brush B3 to the external circuit for light- 
ing or trolley, thence to B4 and commutator Cl to A5 and back to Al. 

magnetic power. It may well be called the Fasces of the 
Twentieth Century. The wires are bound on the shaft with 
bands of German silver. When the armature for the Dynamo 
for the Intra-mural Elevated Railroad at the Worlds Fair was 
built up, it was made so large and heavy that it was feared it 
could never be carried out of Jackson Park. Now, when this 
shaft of wires revolves in the powerful Field of an Electro-Magnet 
currents will pass back and forth through all these wires. But 
we do not want the currents to go in two ways. We do not 
want Alternating Currents. How, then, to Commute, to ex- 
change the currents into one direction. 



ELECTRICITY. 35 

Explain the idea of the Commutator ? 

At the end of the shaft there must be an apparatus for catch- 
ing the currents at the right time, and causing them to flow into 
the electric cable altogether. To describe this Commutator, 
let us imagine a simple Dynamo, made with one circuit of wire 
strung on a small shaft that revolves in front of a Magnet's pole. 
Each time the wires pass the pole they will reverse their current, 
yet the currents can be exchanged, or commuted into another 
wire, so that they will travel all in one direction. First, mount 
on the shaft a boss of hard wood. Next, mount on the wooden 
boss, the segments of a split tube of metal, which are to receive 
the current from the circuit of wire that revolves before the 
magnetic pole. These two segments do not enwrap the shaft, 
but leave spaces of wood between each other. Fixed away from 
the machine are immovable metal brushes, that rub the parts of 
the Commutator as it revolves, and an external coil of wire con- 
nects the two segments of the Commutator. As they revolve 
they take two currents at each revolution, but as the same one 
of two brushes always takes only every other current, the 
current in the external coil always goes the same way, although 
the current on the shaft Induced by the Magnetic Field is 
always alternating. The great cables which run along the 
streets of the city may be called the external coils of great 
Dynamos that are whirling ceaselessly through Magnetic Fields 
at the power-houses. ( See Fig. 14.) 

How are the Commutators on the great Dynamos arranged? 

The Commutator here may be called the changeable connec- 
tions of the moving wires on the shaft. This Commutator is 
made of pieces of copper insulated with mica. The brushes 
which rub on the copper commutator are strips of copper or 
pieces of carbon, and carry off the current at alternate times, as 
described in the simple Dynamo. There is no useful Dynamo 
that does not exhibit the three forms of (1) Magnetic Field, (2) 
revolving shaft with Armature, (3) Commutator. 

You said the Electro-Magnet that makes the Magnetic Field 

had to have a current going round it before it would make a 
Field. How is that done ? 



36 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

It is called Exciting. First, it was accomplished by a separate 
battery of Electricity. Now Dynamos are made into and called 
Self-Exciters. The Armature on the shaft is connected with the 
wires that enwrap the Electro-Magnet. There is a feeble mag- 
netism resident in the iron of the Magnet, and a feeble current 
sets up in the Armature when it first revolves; that feeble cur- 
rent goes into the Electro-Magnet, and soon the whole machine 
is going at full power, the current that enters the big cables 
being practically continuous. 

Is sonic of the steam power lost ? 

Yes. To attract force into the electric cables power is lost. 
But the advantage lies in the facility with which the electricians 
can distribute and apply electric power when it has been secured. 
Power is only gained without effort when we unloose the storage 
batteries of nature, as in lighting a bed of coal, or engaging 
chemicals in decomposition. As soon as the steam ceases to 
^>ush the piston, the Dynamo shaft ceases to revolve, and the 
£able on the street, or the trolley wire overhead ceases to be a 
u live " wire. 

Tell me about Bigelow's demonstration ? 

In the autumn of 1891, Professor Frank H. Bigelow of Wash- 
ington, D. C.j announced the successful culmination of his 
labors to show scientifically that the Sun is a Magnet; that the 
Earth is a Dynamo, and generates Electricity by revolving in 
front of the Sun. Lagrange of Brussels, had conceived this 
theory. 

We now have the big current of electricity in the cables run- 
ning out of the power-house. Whither does it go ? 

It goes out by cable and returns through buried wires and by 
other means to the power-house and the Dynamo. In the old 
days of the electric telegraph, the operator sank his wire into 
the earth, and this completed a circuit with any person to whom 
he was signaling with his key. Whether a line of molecules 
arranges itself all the way through the earth, or not, we do not 
know. In the case of the trolley cars, when the trolley track is 
laid — and it is a very good one now-a-days — a thick copper wire 



ELECTRICITY. 



37 




3g THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

is laid alongside one of the two track-rails. The current passes 
through the car-wheels into the rails, into the copper wire (into 
the earth also), and back to the Dynamo. 

Now for the trolley cars. Why are they called trolleys ? 

In the old days a trolley was a skid, or railway truck. When 
the trolley was hung on an overhead wire, it was still called a 
trolley. The first application of Electricity to a surface car was 
through a trailing car or trolley that hung on a wire. The 
name was a natural outgrowth of the early conditions. Finally, 
a pole with a small wheel was pressed against th-e wire, and it 
was found that Electricity was so quick that it would come 
down the pole while the surface of the little wheel touched the 
wire. This pole is now the trolley-pole. 

How does the current reach the car-wheels to make them go ? 

It comes down the pole to the power-switch, over the motor- 
man's head. (See page 42.) At the power-switch, power is 
taken off for light and heat in the car. Between the power- 
switch and the car-wheels are the lightning-arrester and other 
devices of a technical nature. A great number of wires are 
strung through the bottom of the car, in order to make the 
apparatus operable from either end of the car. 

What is the Controller ? 

This is the metallic box standing upright at the left of the 
motorman. It has two levers. The little one reverses or stops 
the action of the Electricity. The big one has nine notches of 
speed at which the car may be run when a full current is on the 
cables. The motor man usually stops the car with his hand- 
brake, but he may reverse his current and force his car back- 
ward by Electricity at pleasure. 

We have now reached the Motor. What is it ? 

The Motor is called the Electro-Motor by the electricians. 
We now come to a statement that must be wonderful to the 
inquiring mind. We have learned what a Dynamo is. There- 
fore, take note: " If a Dynamo," says Maycock, "instead of 
being driven by an engine, and used to give a current, has a 
current from a separate source (as from another Dynamo), passed 



ELECTRICITY. 



39 



through it, its Armature will revolve, and the Dynamo will 
become an electric engine, capable of driving machinery." We 
saw that the Armature was the built-up shaft of plates and wires 




Fig. 16. NEGRO'S FIRST ELECTRO-MOTOR. 



that revolved between the poles of the great Magnets. So if we 
connected still another Dynamo to this great Magnet, sending 
the Electricity into the great Magnet, we could take the steam 
engine's power off this built-up shaft, and it would go alone. Ac- 
cordingly, under the street-car is a Dynamo (that is, a Motor), 
only it is to be run backward — reversed. 



40 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Where is this Motor? 

The built-up Armature with its surrounding Magnet is not on 
the shaft of the car-wheels, because it whirls very much faster 
than the car-wheels. The Armature is on a shaft of its own; 




Fig. 17. STATIONARY MOTOR. 

which rests against springs. On this shaft is a little cog-wheel. 
Of course the little cog-wheel, going so very fast — so fast, that 
you hear it hum from your car-seat above it, — plays into a sort 
of clock-work train, and gains all the advantage of leverage in 
acting on the car-wheel. The springs on the Armature-shaft 
are there to take up the sudden jerk with which the Armature 
would elsewise begin its work when the current from the 
trolley-wire should be sent through the Magnet. 

Explain the uses of the wires in the street ? 
Running from the Dynamo in the power-house are great 
electric cables, covered with insulating material At about every 



ELECTRICITY. 41 

eighth telegraph pole in the street, one of these cables is tapped, 
and the current seeks an outlet in the wire that runs across the 
street. Going across the street, the current finds the trolley-wire 
and greedily enters that. 

What are the little wires for that form a net-work over the 
trolley-wires ? 

They are there only to protect telephone wires fiom falling on 
the trolley-wires and becoming "live wires/' full of danger, from 
death and fire, to persons and property. In the early days of 
the "live wire," in an Eastern city on the Hudson River, a "live 
wire" fell on a horse and killed it. A man touched the horse 
and was killed, and a second man, striving to rescue the first 
man, was also killed. Beside all these wires, and the one that 
lies in the track, copper plates are buried deep in the ground at 
certain distances, and wires run to the plates. The earth itself 
gives a current from the plates back to the Dynamo in the power 
house. 

What is the Elevated Electric Railroad ? 

The application of the trolley principle, as here described, to the 
passenger rolling-stock of an elevated railroad of the ancient 
style. The Electricity is carried in a third T rail, and the trol- 
leys hang from the trucks of the motor car. This system was 
exhibited for the first time at the World's Fair in the Intra- 
Mural Railroad, and was successfully installed by the Metro- 
politan Elevated Railroad of Chicago, a trunk-line with four 
branches. Its power-house, with four high vertical engine-dy- 
namos, is one of the sights of the city. There has been no delay 
in the operation of the road, all difficulties having been foreseen 
and provided for. (See Fig. 18.) 

What is the Electric Bridge ? 

It is the invention and design of William Scherzer, civil en- 
gineer 3 and the first installation was over the Chicago River, on 
the line of the Metropolitan Electric Elevated, here described 
Mr. Scherzer patented his device December 26, 1896. The bridge 
opens in the middle and each side rises in the air to a vertical po- 
sition, so that cars cannot run into the river when vessels are 



42 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




ELECTRICITY. 43 

passing. Each half of the bridge is a rocker, as if two rocking- 
chairs were tipped far back and together. At one end is a tower, 
in which is an electric motor. Power from the trolley-rail runs 
the motor. The bridge-tender uses a controller, like the devices 
on the cars. The bridge opens swiftly, and when it closes it 
locks itself. Four trains frequently stand on this structure at 
once, and it is treated as one of the strongest places in the right- 
of-way. The only difficulty that has arisen came from contrac- 
tion of metals in cold weathei. 

I think I would like to understand something of "Potentials" 
"Accumulators" "Condensers" and more of Plus and Minus ? 

As to "Potentials," we may define the word as meaning the 
power or action which a body is capable of putting forth. The 
electricians presuppose the earth itself to be a magnetized body, 
and any smaller body of matter is at zero when no electricity 
will either go into it out of the earth, or out of it into the earth, 
always allowing that the body is at rest. Its Potential is then 
zero. It is neither positive or negative, for positive and plus 
are the same, and negative and minus are the same. Zero is 
also called the "electrical level." When a body has more elec- 
tricity than zero — like the charged electric cable, it has a "Posi- 
tive or Plus Potential Difference, of which it is trying to be 
rid. If, however, the body had less Electricity than the earth, 
it would have a Negative or Minus Potential Difference, and 
would be as active in taking up currents from the earth or 
elsewhere. Thus we have High Potentials. But the term "Low 
Potential" is customarily applied, not to a Minus Potential, 
but to a Plus or Positive Potential Difference that is not re- 
markably High — such as 25 volts as against 800 volts of pressure, 
or desire to get in or out of the earth. It is also true that if a 
body with, say 50 Minus come near a body with 100 Minus, the 
Potential Difference will be leveled. In the eagerness of earthly 
bodies to level the amount of their electrification lies the oppor- 
tunity of man to make them perform labor for him, and save his 
body from an equal amount of toil. 

How about thunderstorms ? 

The cloud may be Minus or Plus, and in the discharge of 



44 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Electricity the earth may either give or receive what is popularly 
called lightning. The photographs of lightning flashes usually 
show in which direction the stream of red-hot air is "flowing." 
Sometimes the stream has its gathering tributaries in the skies, 
sometimes near the ground. The law which we quoted as 
having passed Congress shows that these Potentials are meas- 
ured, as well as the Resistance which bodies under varying cir- 
cumstances offer to the entrance of the current. 

What is a Condenser ? 

It is also called an Accumulator. It was once called Benjamin 
Franklin's Pane (of glass.) It is also the Leyden Jar. It is a 
device for increasing the electrical Capacity of a body or con- 




Fi<*. 20. THE CHLORIDE ACCUMULATOR, AS USED IN MODERN GREAT PLANTS. 



ductor. To explain: If a sheet of tinfoil be hung by itself, it 
will require a certain amount of Electricity to render it Plus to 
a certain degree. But if the tin foil be put near another sheet 



ELECTRICITY. 45 

of tin foil, with a sheet of glass between them, and the second 
sheet wired into the earth, then the first tin foil sheet will re- 
quire more Electricity to make it register the same Potential 
Difference as at first. In a word, it is the principle of Storage 
— a body giving off at a later day what it once took up. 

Tell me about Galvani, Volta, the Voltaic Pile and the 
Galvanic or Voltaic Battery. 

Galvani, while dissecting frogs on a table near a magnetic 
machine or apparatus, conveyed a current of force into a dead 
frog's leg, and the leg moved. Volta took up this experiment 
and learned the Potential Difference of metals. He made the 
Voltaic Pile, with a plate of zinc, a plate of copper, a woolen 
cloth wet with water, and many repetitions of this series of zinc, 
copper, cloth. This Voltaic Pile gave a slight shock. The zinc 
was phis and the copper minus and the current passed toward 
the copper. Now immerse this Pile in a trough of water and 
dilute the water with nitric, sulphuric, muriatic or other acid, 
connect the two outside plates each with a wire, bring the wires 
together, and a powerful shock results. The spark leaps across 
a small open interval, and the electric arc is seen. Sir Humphrey 
Davy used a thousand plates in the battery with which he pro- 
duced the first good electric arc light. This Voltaic Battery — 
often called Galvanic, because Galvani opened the question — or 
its modifications, is usually the source of all the electrical power 
for the telegraph and telephone, the electric bell, burglar alarms, 
and other familiar devices by which a circuit is opened /r shut. 

To what recent industrial uses have Magnets been put ? 

At the rolling mills, magnets are now used for Hieing great 
masses of hot iron, diminishing loss of life and limb, and per- 
sonal inconvenience. Edison, in New Jersey, has succeeded in 
obtaining the iron from iron ore by crushing the ore and at- 
tracting the iron particles to magnets. Some of his pig iron thus 
obtained, it is said, is as malleable as wrought iron. 

What is Electricity in the light of all that has been said 
here ? 

Electricity is a phenomenon to which man has not yet been 
able to attach a satisfactory working hypothesis. At present, 



4^ THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

he thinks of it as if it were water, seeking its level. Without 
understanding it, the scientists have detected so many of its 
peculiaritie^ that, after about seventy years of almost toyish 
experiment, it has now become in most cases, the most favored 
method of conveying power. 

What are its present inconveniences and dangers ? 

These lie in the live wires and the cables that endanger life 
and property in the streets, or when put under the pavement, 
destroy the pipes that convey gas, water and other service. 

How long ago were street-ears run by Electricity in a prac- 
tical way 

About 1SS0, in Buda-Pesth. There the cables and trolley wire 
ran underground. About 600 patents, up to 1S97, had been 
issued in the United States for underground conduits. Three 
conduit-roads have been financially successful — the one at Buda- 
Pesth made by the Siemens-Halske Company, one at Washing- 
ton, D. C, and one at Blackpool, England. The first successful 
American trolley-lines for streetcars, both overhead and under- 
ground, were completed in 1884, by Bentley & Knight. But the 
overhead system, particularly in the environs of large cities, and 
in the open country between towns, has given to the people a 
cheap and delightful method of riding, which works well, sum- 
mer and winter, in all latitudes. Fears were entertained that 
in northern cities the heavy snowstorms would blockade the 
roads, but severe winter weather has come and gone, and the 
trolley cars swept the streets better than when the sweeping 
used to be done with horse-power. 

How is a car heated by Electricity ? 

A number of radiators are put under the car-seats, exactly as 
if they were for steam or hot-water. A wire leads from the 
power-switch, over the Motorman's head, to the radiator. When 
the current reaches the radiator, it goes into Resistance-wires, 
which are heated red-hot. The air of the car absorbs this heat, 
and the car becomes warm. 



ELECTRICITY. 47 



What is Resistance ? 



Whenever Electricity flows through a conductor or body, that 
conductor or body always becomes heated to a certain extent, 
because there is no substance that will allow Electricity to flow 
through it without offering some Resistance to its passage (see 
Maycock) and it is in overcoming this Resistance that the current 
develops heat. A big current in any little wire will heat or 
burn it, and a metal like german silver, offers great Resistance. 
Resistance is measured in ohms. 

How are Potential Differences measured ? 

In volts. And current is measured in amperes. These three 
factors are always Dresent in electrical action, and, by Ohm's 
Law, when any t 70 factors are known, the other may be 
deduced. 

Recite Ohm's Lav. 

The Current equals the Potential Difference, divided by the 
Resistance; again, th t Resistance equals the Potential Differ- 
ence, divided by the Current; or, again, the Potential Difference 
equals the Current, multiplied by the Resistance. This law was 
discovered in 1827, and has passed out of the realm of theory into 
the field of unquestioned fact, like other known laws of nature. 

I think I could now understand some further statement re- 
garding the measurement of Electricity. 

We will quote Professor Elisha Gray — (see also page 22) — 
who says: il When a Current of Electricity flows through a con- 
ductor, the conductor resists its flow more or less according to 
the quality and size of the conductor. Silver and copper are 
good conductors. Silver is better than copper. Calling silver 
100, copper will only be 73. If we have a mile of silver wire 
and a mile of iron wire and want the iron wire to carry as much 
Electricity as the silver and have the same battery for both, we 
will have to make the iron wire over seven times as large v That 
is, the area of a cross section of the iron wire must be over seven 
times that of the silver wire. But if we want to keep both 
wires the same size and still force the same amount of Current 



48 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

through each, we must increase the pressure of the battery con- 
nected with the iron wire. We measure this pressure by a unit 
called the volt. The volt is the unit of pressure or Electro- 
Motive Force. The iron wire offers a Resistance that is about 
seven times greater than silver to the passage of the Current. 
The quality of the iron wire that prevents the same amount of 
Current from flowing through it as the silver is called its Re- 
sistance: The unit of Resistance is called the ohm, and the 
more ohms there are in a wire as compared with another, the 
more volts we have to put into the battery to get the same Cur- 
rent. The strength of current that flows through a conductor 
is measured by the ampere. The ampere is the unit of Current." 

How are these units established ? 

We still quote from Professor Gray : " These units are estab- 
lished arbitrarily. The volt is the Potential or pressure of one 
cell of battery called a Standard Cell, made in a certain way. 
The Daniell Battery is about one volt. That is, the Electro- 
Motive Force of one cell of Daniell Battery is one volt. One 
ohm is the Resistance offered to the passage of a Current having 
one volt pressure by a column of mercury one millimeter in 
cross section and 106.2 centimeters in length. Ordinary iron 
telegraph wire measures about 13 ohms to the mile. Now con- 
nect our Standard Cell — one volt — through one ohm Resistance 
and we have a Current of one ampere. Unit Electro-Motive 
Force (volt) through unit Resistence (ohm) gives unit of Cur- 
rent (ampere). If we want to carry only a small Current for a 
long distance, we do not need to use large cells, but many of 
them. We increase the pressure or voltage by increasing the 
number of cells set up in series. If we have a wire of given 
length and Resistance and find we need 100 volts to force the 
right amount or strength of Current through it, and the Electro- 
motive Force of the cells we are using is one volt each, it will 
require 100 cells. If we have a battery that has an Electro- 
Motive Force of two volts to the ceil, as the storage battery has, 
fifty cells would answer. If we want a very strong Current of 
great volume, so to speak, for electric light or power, and use a 
galvanic battery we would have to have cells of large surface 




MICHAEL FARADAY, F. R. S , D. C. L. 



ELECTRICITY. 49 

and lower Resistance both inside and outside the cell. When 
Dynamos are used they are so constructed that a given number 
of revolutions per minute will give the right voltage. In fact, 
the Dynamo has to be built for the amount of Current that 
must be delivered through a given Resistance. The same holds 
good for a Dynamo as for a galvanic battery. If any one factor 
is a fixed one we must adapt the others to that one in order to 
get the result we want." 

Why is a mention of Resistance especially important ? 

Because all electrical operations in heating, cooking and 
lighting must be conducted on that line. All houses served 
with wires from a power-house may have radiators and 
cooking-ranges, and heat for such purposes is furnished in many 
of the great residences of the country. This heat has the ad- 
vantage of being without odor, and making no ashes to empty, 
or dust to gather on furniture. It has the disadvantage, along 
with other so-called radiators of heat — that it cooks the same 
air over and over, and gives the room a "dead" and ill-ventilated 
feeling, which is rarely possible where there is a good fuel fire 
with chimney. 

Describe the big Electric Light, such as hangs in the street in 
a large glass globe ? 

It is served, like the trolley, from a Dynamo in a power-house. 
The cables usually run under the streets, in conduits built for 
them using Barretts Chicago system. The wire running to the 
lamp is covered with rubber. The light itself is the flame dis- 
covered by Sir Humphrey Davy, and was for many decades a 
toy in the laboratory. It was an electric discharge, like a 
streak of lightning, from a Plus Potential to a Minus Potential, 
meeting with high resistance. 

What was the Jablochkoff candle ? 

It was the first form of carbon stick or candle to be used. 
It was a double candle, with a layer of Plaster of Paris between. 
It sputtered and acted discontinuously, and soon gave way to 
the modern apparatus, in which the upper candle is fed down 



50 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




to the lower candle by means of 
clockwork. The upper or Plus 
carbon burns twice as fast as the 
lower or Minus carbon. Particles 
of carbon are torn away from the 
upper candle, leaving a crater, and 
particles are deposited on the lower 
carbon making a point. It is 
thought that 85 per cent, of the 
light comes from the undetached 
particles of positive upper carbon; 
10 per cent, from the undetached 
particles on the lower or negative 
carbon; and 5 per cent, from the 
flame, midway. About fifty volts 
of Potential are necessary, and 
ingeniously devised governing 
magnets at each lamp, allow just 
enough current to go through the 
candles, without robbing the other 
lamps on the same circuit. 

How early was this Light used 
for practical purposes in Amer- 
ica ? 

About 1882, when the Grand 
Pacific Hotel at Chicago, was 
lighted, and lamps were hung at 
Wabash, Indiana. The first central 
station was erected at San Fran- 
cisco. Although the City of Chi- 
cago at last erected its own power- 
houses in several districts, nearly 
every small city was earlier lighted 
by the arc light, (as the carbon 
candle light is popularly called) 
before the streets of Chicago were 
thus illuminated, and in 1897 many 



ELECTRICITY. 



51 



hundred miles of streets were still lit 
and controlled by private gas com- 
panies, to the prejudice of popular 
convenience. 

What great invention followed 
the introduction of the arc light in 
public places? 

Edison divided the arc light into 
smaller lights, and the incandescent 
lamp became a feature of life in 
modern communities. Millions of the 
glass-bulb devices are sold each year 
in the United States, and large glass 
factories are kept busy the year round 
making the bulbs. When Edison was 
inventing this lamp, he found the 
chief part of his trouble was the 
shadow which the stem of the bulb 
threw directly beneath, and it was 
said at the time that it was only by 
accident that he happened to turn 
the lamp up-side down, and noticed 
that it made no difference in what 
way the instrument was held — it 
would burn equally well. 

I see a thread of light in the bulb. 
How is that made ? 
It is caused by the Resistance which the filament or thread 
offers to the passage of Electricity. The thread is heated red- 
hot, and thus gives light. The air has been exhausted from the 
bulb, and thus the thread does not burn up, as does the carbon 
candle in the arc light. The current of Electricity comes to the 
lamp in the same way that the arc light and trolley car get their 
currents — that is from a Dynamo, although a single light may 
be made from a battery or jar. 

What is the thread made of ? 

Fibres of bamboo, cotton, silk, or tamodine (a variety of eel- 




Fig. 22. THE BRUSH LIGHT 
Clockwork replaced by brake- 
ring. A, solenoid; C, wrought 
iron tube; c, spiral spring; d, 
adjusting screws; JB, holder of 
the upper carbon; G, screw ad- 
justing the lower carbon; 2>, ring 
for lifting hook. 



52 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



luloid). The strips of fibre are bent in iron moulds into the 
shape you see. Then they are packed in carbon dust. This 
pack is put into a crucible of plumbago or black lead, such as 
you find in your lead pencil. This crucible is sealed air-tight, 




Fig. 23. STAGES IN THE MAKING OF INCANDESCENT LAMPS. 
1. Glass stopper or " saddle " showing platinum wires inside. 4. Glass tube out of 
which the bulbs (5) are blown. 2. The stopper placed in a bulb. 3. Stopper and bulb 
fused together, as shown again in 6. 7. The long tube fused away. 

and put into a hot-air furnace where the crucible becomes white 
hot. In this way the filaments are charred and also absorb the 
carbon, and when they come out of the crucibles they are so 
steel-like that they may be straightened, and will spring back 
into their original shape. The loop you see in the thread now 
generally in use gives it a greater degree of illuminating power, 
as the Electricity must travel further to get past the obstruction. 
Edison discovered that the Electricity could only be delivered 
into a glass bulb through platinum wire, as platinum was the 
only metal that expanded and contracted under heat in the same 
degree with glass. If other wire were used, either the glass 
would break, or a passage for air would be made and the fila- 
ment would burn out. 



ELECTRICITY. 53 

Do women figure in the manufacture of these lamps ? 

Yes. It is found that they excel in handling the delicate fila- 
ments, and they have become glass-workers, for the platinum 
wires are fixed in a glass saddle and the filaments welded with 
glass to the platinum wires at a glass-blower's flame, and women 
perform this delicate feat with speed and accuracy. When the 
filament is properly wired in the bulb, that end is sealed air-tight, 
and is not again opened. 

How then is the air extracted ? 

You have noted a sharp point on the outer end of the bulb as 
it points down toward you. When the bulb came from the glass 
factory where it was blown, an open tube protruded at this 
point. This tube is still on when the girl gets through with the 
wire-end of the lamp. The bulb now goes to the mercury ex- 
haust-pump. The pump is connected with the end tube, and the 
air is nearly all taken out. The bulb meanwhile has been con- 
nected with electric wires, and a current is turned on. The fila- 
ment lights up and aids in expelling the air. If everything is 
satisfactory, the glass-worker now seals the passage by fusing 
the tube while the air-pump is still connected, the fused tube is 
broken off, and the lamp is air tight, and is ready for the brass 
cap which finishes it for the market. 

What other interesting thing can you tell me concerning this 
kind of light ? 

Edison added new splendors to the night. These lamps offer 
new methods of illumination, and almost inaccessible points may 
be lighted without inconvenience. Those who visited the 
World's Fair at Chicago, will recall the appearance of the Ad- 
ministration dome and the Ferris Wheel. In the Electricity 
Building, particularly, were demonstrations of the multitudi- 
nous ways in which the light may be used for decoration and 
advertisement. The bulbs are made in all colors of glass, and 
sets of bulbs are lighted and extinguished in order. 

I have noted these changing lights in city streets. How are 
these effects produced ? 

The machine which turns the lights off and on is like the cy- 



54 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Under of a hand-organ, and operates on that principle. When 
you see the lights ascending a column or traveling along a route, 
the appearance is illusory. Certain bulbs are lighted and ex- 
tinguished by their own connections at a certain moment, which 
gives the impression of a traveling light. Thus a barrel may 
seem to turn, or a sphere to rotate, but both are stationary. 
When the operating cylinder has revolved once, it catches a 
pawl or key and lifts it. The moving of this key perfects an 
electrical connection. It is an automatic Switch-Board. 

What is a snitch ? 

Let us trace the word. It was first a twig, cut from a tree. 
Then it became a branch from a main trunk of railway. Next, 
probably the railroad men applied the term to the Switch line 
of wire on which the Morse telegraphic instrument would be 
stationed, for when the cumbrous mechanism was not in use 
it was not needed on the main wire. Accordingly, before the 
telegraph operator began work, he turned a little brass arm, 
which set the current of the main line running through his ma- 
chine. This business of shifting weak currents of electricity, 
made by Voltaic Batteries, has grown until the Switch-Boards of 
the Western Union Telegraph Company, or the Power-House 
of a city electric railway system, cover a great surface and are 
marvels of complexity. The Switch-Board before which the 
telephone girl works is another example of convenience, and 
every theatre has a Switch-Board. The Switch-Boards at the 
World's Fair were studied with interest by the electricians of the 
world. It follows from the origin of the word, that any lever 
or key which breaks or restores a circuit — that is, cuts or com- 
pletes a line of wire, is called a switch. The button of an elec- 
tric bell, which when pressed, completes a circuit, by joining two 
metals together, is such a switch. 

What othi rial conveniences followed from Edison's in- 

vention t 

All street-cars and elevated stations are lighted thoroughly 
and without labor. The movement of brilliantly lighted cars 
through the streets carries with it a constant illumination. Light 
may also be taken into subterranean places — cellars, tunnels 



ELECTRICITY. 55 

and the like, — where explosion would follow the ordinary means 
of lighting. 

Was the Electric Light \ as produced by the Dynamo, a scien- 
tific surprise ? 

I can best answer yes by quoting for you a paragraph in David 
A. Wells' book, "Things not Generally Known/' edited by him 
in 1857. In this work, at page 302, is the following statement by 
Prof. Alfred Smee, F. R. S. : "There is one serious drawback 
against the use of Voltaic Electricity for the purpose of illumi- 
nation, and that is its serious expense. It is a primary law of 
nature that no power can be obtained without a corresponding 
change of matter. In Voltaic batteries, the combination of zinc 
with the oxygen of water, constitutes the change of matter which 
gives rise to Electricity. As much dearer as zinc is than coal 
gas, so is the cost of the Voltaic Light over the ordinary mode 
of illumination. But the expense is even still greater, inasmuch 
as the equivalent of zinc is five times higher than that of carbon; 
and furthermore, carbon combines with two equivalents of oxy- 
gen to form carbonic acid. For this reason," continues Professor 
Smee, "the Electric Light will probably forever remain a pretty, 
scientific toy; unless, indeed, some person shall have the good 
fortune to discover a battery with a carbon positive pole." Pro- 
fessor Smee, who was an eminent electrician, lived until 1877, 
when the positive pole of the Dynamo's armature circuit had 
become fairly well known to scientists. 

How many Electric Lights were lit at the World's Fair of 
i8 93 ? 

There were 1550 electric arc lights out of doors. In the Man- 
ufacturers' Building hung five electroliers, 140 feet above the 
floor, holding 400 arc lights, and there were 800 other arc lights 
but the vast hall could not be well illuminated by artificial 
means. The Exposition Company also furnished 56,622 Edison 
bulb lights, (incandescent). A subway over six feet square, 
which was itself kept lighted traversed the grounds, and was 
76,000 feet long. There were 1677 arc lights in the other main 
buildings. Private exhibitors used about 100,000 more lights. 



56 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

It is quite likely that 160,000 lights were often in operation at 
once. There was public and private power for a far larger 
number. 

What is the Electric Theatre ? 

This was displayed in the Electricity Building and on Midway 
Plaisance. It is, in brief, a summary exhibition of the lighting 
facilities of a modern theatrical stage. The scene chosen at the 
World's Fair was in Swiss Mountains. The night slowly set in, 
the light appeared in the windows, the stars came out, the day 
slowly dawned, the sunlight grew strong, a storm arose, with 
lightning and thunder, a rainbow appeared in the sky, the sun- 
light reappeared, the evening approached, darkness set in, and 
the stars again twinkled on the mountain's crest — all this to slow 
music and to delighted free audiences that had stood hours 
waiting for admission. 

Describe some modern stage effects ? 

At the Auditorium Theatre, in Chicago, is one of the most com- 
pletely installations in the world. The stage, 90 x 160 feet, has 
1500 electric lights. There are 150 footlights in three rows, red, 
white and blue. At fourteen different places, electric connections 
can be made. In the "Black Crook," when Zamiel touches his 
thumb and forefinger together, there is an electric flash. In 
"Faust," when Mephistopheles draws his sword in a circle, it 
strikes an electrically charged wrought iron ring, and there is 
a vivid circle of fire. Flowers light up when Mephistopheles 
curses them. 

Is there a Dynamo under the stage ? 

Yes, You may desire to know how the horizon and sky effects 
are produced. The rear scene of the stage will be a canvass 
about 40 feet square, such as is spread for a stereopticon lecture. 
Behind this rear canvass is a stereopticon, in which burns an 
electric arc light, or perhaps several stereopticons. Between the 
lens of the stereopticon and the electric light is a place where 
different machines may be introduced. Thus a glass disk, with 
clouds painted on it, when placed in this aperture and revolved 
before the light, throws great masses of pictured mist on the 
canvass. The lightning disk is revolved in another stereopticon. 



ELECTRICITY. 57 

its flashes playing on the black storm clouds. Fire clouds, as 
in the "Huguenots" or other scenes of conflagration are painted 
in red, black and yellow and must be turned rapidly. For rain, 
hair-lines cross the disk in every direction. In the * 'Queen of 
Sheba," a caravan moves for countless miles on the desert 
horizon. Ripples on the water are produced by wavy black 
lines on the disk. 

What is the stage rainbow t 

It is made by holding a prism of glass before the lens of the 
stereopiicon. A setting sun is a disk of ground glass behind 
which is an arc light. Glasses color the disk red, yellow, gray, 
and finally, as in "Tannhauser," night comes in full darkness. 
This machine hangs on a pulley. A stage fire-fly is a minute arc 
light, and the lower candle is set on a small spring. When the 
current is on, the candle rises, and a tiny flash is seen. The 
current is an interrupted one. The Star, Venus is simulated by 
cutting a hole in the canvas, placing a green jew^l in the aper- 
ture, and lighting an incandescent lamp behind. A switchboard 
with fifty switches regulates the general lighting of the stage, 
and it is to the delicacy of the light gradations here made possi- 
ble that the scene called the Electric Theatre, previously 
described, owes its success. 

What is the Electric Fountain ? 

A beautiful device for the illumination of flowing water at 
night. Fountains of apparently colored water have been fea- 
tures of royal parks since the days of Louis XIV, at Versailles, 
and the "grand waters" have for centuries been city sights at 
Paris. But the Dynamo and the Arc Light made the coloration 
of uprising streams of water easily feasible, and the Electric 
Fountains at the Eiffel Tower in 1889, at Paris, were among the 
chief attractions of the World's Fair of that year. Within a 
year they were established in American parks, and two speci- 
mens were in frequent play at the World's Fair of 1893, > n 
Chicago, although the jets of water were often lighted from 
colored search-lights placed on some neighboring high place, 
like the South Colonnade of the Fair, 




Fig. 24. ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN. 



ELECTRICITY, 59 

How is the Electric Fountain Operated ? 

If we take the two Fountains at the Chicago Fair of 1893 as 
examples, we find that a thirty-six inch main led from the 
pumps in Machinery Hall, and branched at the two Fountains. 
The water-basins were each sixty feet in diameter, and each 
received about 440 gallons a minute. The central jet sent a 
shaft of water 150 feet into the air. Twelve jets surrounded 
this center-piece, and at the outer edge nine geysers threw 
water at a slight angle upward toward the central jet. The 
floor of the water basin was the ceiling or roof of the sub- 
aqueous chamber in which the operators had their station. At 
a point in each pipe where it turned upward to throw the stream 
into the air, the bottom of the pipe was made of glass. Under 
this glass pipe revolved a wheel of glass wi-th colored sections. 
Under the vari-colored wheel of glass was placed the Electric 
arc-light; under the arc-light a reflector, to throw all the rays 
upward. When a stream was turned on, it shot into the air, 
and as the arc-light threw its rays in the same direction, the 
light found a medium in the water, and if a red glass were over 
the light, the water appeared to be wine. The nineteen Jets 
could be turned on and off separately and variously lighted, 
and one or many electric lights could be used. At the Fair, 
each fountain used one eighty-ampere light, and the jets were 
assembled for collective lighting. 

To what other astonishing use has tlie Electric Arc-Light 
been put ? 

The Search-Light has been developed, and the largest 
example the world has seen was exhibited by the General 
Electric Company at the World's Fair of 1893. Lights and 
flames which project their rays to great distances have been the 
study of all lighthouse builders for centuries. Under the oper- 
ations of the early reflectors of light, although the flame were 
sheltered and backed by brilliant reflectors, yet as the flame was 
a central point, and its rays went out in all directions, it followed 
that in the cone directly in front of this central point the rays 
that went past the outer lips of the reflector or holder diverged 
into the sky and downward into the water or earth. The appli- 



60 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




Fig. 25. 



THE SEARCHLIGHT AND ITS ELECTRIC ARC LIGHT. 



ELECTRICITY. 61 

cation of the glass prism — that is a three-cornered bar of glass — 
to the work of reflection, while it corrected all the rays that 
reached it, and sent them all out in parallel lines ahead of the 
flame, so that they would travel to a great distance in the direc- 
tion where they could be useful, still did not cover the case of 
the rays that went out past the rim of the reflector, on the way 
upward, downward and sidewise. So Fresnel, who had applied 
the prism adopted the ingenious plan of nearly surrounding his 
flame with prisms and mirrors, and letting out his rays only 
when they had been bent around so many times that if they 
went out at all they must go out straight, at an aperture just 
ahead of the flame. 

Describe the great Search-Light ? 

It was shaped like a bass-drum, and hung by trunnions on a 
fork, so that if it were really a drum, the drum-head would look 
forward into the sky, or any direction desired. The apparatus 
weighed 6,000 pounds, yet could be easily turned in all ways. 
Inside at one of the drum-heads was placed a Mangin concave 
lens mirror sixty inches in diameter. This piece of glass was 
only one-sixteenth of an inch thick at the centre, but it was 
three and one-fourth inches thick around the edges. The glass 
weighed 800 pounds, and its besel or ring and rear cover 800 
pounds more. This mirror formed the inside of the rear drum- 
head, and the front drum-head was made of strips of glass 
placed vertically, like the strips of a picket-fence. 

What is polarized light ? 

When light goes through strips, it is supposed to cease to vi- 
brate sidewise, as a rope would do if it crossed two picket- 
fences. Efforts to shake the rope sidewise would only give it an 
up and down motion — a polarized motion — between the two 
fences. This is to prevent sidewise vibration and dissipation as 
the shaft of light is shot out of the great light-mortar, for it is 
properly called a Projector. In the drum in front of the mirror 
sliding on ways on the bottom, was an Electric Arc- Light of 200 
amperes, or twice and a half as much light as was used for one 
of the Electric Fountains. The carbon candles were coated 
with copper, and had soft cores that would make a deep crater 



62 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



and high set off in burning. The crater of the upper candle was 
well exposed to the mirror, so that this most brilliant point in 
the light would be well condensed by the mirror, and its rays 
sent in parallel rays toward the front of the drum. In the 
engraving (Fig. 25) may be seen the apparatus for the arc light. 
The small reflector prevented the arc light from being seen from 
in front of the search light. That is between the glass strips and 
the arc light was a smaller reflector to catch the rays that went 
forward and throw them back into the big mirror where they 
would be straightened, or sent out in a forward line. When the 
Dvnamo was at full speed, the arc-light was said to give 100,000 
candle-power, and the mirrors, by collecting or condensing all its 
rays threw on the sixty inch disk of air immediately outside of 
the strips of glass a degree of illumination equal to the theoret- 
ical value of 375,000,000 sperm candles. 

What was the effect? 

When this Search-Light was directed upon the most distant 
clouds, it made its mark plainly upon them. When it was on 
top of the Manufactures Building at the Chicago World's Fair, 
it could be seen at Milwaukee, and people at Aurora, west of 
Chicago, read by the aid of its beams. The shaft passed through 
the air overhead, much like the tail of a great comet. A smaller 
light on Mount Washington, makes objects visible that are 100 
miles away, and the Search-Lights now in New York harbor are 
seen fifty miles away. Signals are flashed on the clouds. The 
Siemens-Halske Projector at the World's Fair was also an ex- 
ample of the triumph of modern optical science, in the economi- 
cal use and concentration of light-rays. 

Are there electrical meters like gas meters? 
Yes. We illustrate Maxim's Meter, and there are countless 
forms and patents. (Fig. 26.) 

What is a Solenoid? 

A solenoid is defined as "an electro-dynamic spiral, having the 
conjunctive wire turned back along its axis, so as to neutralize 
that component of the effect of the current which is due to the 
length of the spiral, and reduce the whole effect to that of a se- 
ries of equal and parallel circular currents. " 






ELECTRICITY. 



63 




Fig. 26. MAXIM'S METER 



Fig. 26 represents an Electro-meter constructed by Maxim. The solenoid B is in- 
serted in the main circuit L. L. n n is a branch circuit in which the Electro-Magnet 
T is inserted. The latter keeps the pendulum Q Q in constant motion in the following 
manner: When a current passes through the coils of the Electro-Magnet; the armature 
Q of the Electro-Magnet is attracted; the pendulum therefore, will move towards the 
left, taking with it the spring R. which breaks contact with S; the circuit is thus broken 
and T is then without current. The pendulum Q falls back again, making contact 
between R and S, and causing a current again to pass through the Electro-Magnet. The 
motion of the pendulum is transmitted to the wheel m by means of Q Q and a toothed 
wheel P fastened upon the axis of Q not shown in the figure. The shaft DM of the 
wheel m carries the cone L" which, when moving, touches the cone L' causing it to 
move also. The axis of L' has a movable weight El and is connected by means of a joint 
E2 with the shaft F of the registering apparatus. One end of the axis//, is connected 
with the cone c of the solenoid B, by means of the rod D. This motion of the iron core 
causes a lowering and raising of the axis E, at e which again causes the cone L' to touch 
the cone L" with more or less surface, and in this way the ratio of the times of rotation of 
the two is altered as the attracting force of the solenoid B. alters. The registering 
apparatus, therefore, will go faster or slower in proportion to the strength of the current. 
The apparatus is similar in principle to the Dynamometer constructed by Charles \ 
Carus-Wilsonbut diifers in the details. Similar apparatus has been constructed by Brush, 
Swan, etc. 



64 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



For w hat other great electrical invention is onr age notable ? 

The Telephone. On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham 
Bell, filed at Washington specifications for a patent in which the 
following language occurs, describing BelTs discovery: "The 
union upon and by means of an electric circuit of two or more 




Fig. 27, BELL'S SECOND TELEPHONE. 

instruments, so that if motion of any kind or form be produced 
in any way in the armature of any one of the said instruments, 
the amatures of all the other instruments upon the same circuit 
will be moved in like manner and form, and if such motion be 
produced in the former by sound, like sound will be produced 
by the motion of the latter." After seventeen years of litigation, 
involving a hundred million dollars worth of property, the 
above specification was held by the Supreme Courtof the United 
States to cover all forms of talking through wires. 

U ho was Elisha Gray ? 

He invented a musical telephone and exhibited it prior to 
1876, calling it a telephone. On the same February 14, 1876, 
— and it is claimed to have been just after the Patent Office 



ELECTRICITY. 



65 



opened in the morning — this same Elisha Gray filed a caveat for 
a "Speaking Telephone/' describing an "invention to transmit 
the tones of the human voice through a telegraphic circuit and 
reproduce them at the receiving end of the line, so that actual 





Fig. 28. 



elephon: 




conversations can be carried on by persons at long distances 
apart." It was charged by Professor Gray, that a clerk showed 
his caveat and drawings to Bell's attorney at Washington, and 
that Bell thereafter amended his application, and secured the 
patent on March 7, 1876. Subsequent agreements between the 
inventors and their assigns, notably the agreement of November 
x > 1879, gave to both Gray and Edison (the latter having made 
valuable additions to the transmitter) a small share of the im- 
mense receipts that followed the establishment of telephonic 
service in the United States. 

What made tlie telephone so popular t 

Its authenticity and usefulness. The sound of the voice is so 
faithfully reproduced that the sensation of personal intercourse 
4 



66 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



is secured. The connection is made quickly, and the cost and 
delay of messenger service, with all its inaccuracies, are avoided. 
Probably no other patent ever brought its owners a profit so 
large, with an expenditure of labor so small. In a city like 
Chicago, the subscriber for seventeen years paid an annual 
rental of $125.00 or $150.00 in quarterly installments. After 
1893, some slight indulgences were offered to the public, but 
the essential powers of the monopoly remained unbroken, be- 
cause of the great number of patented improvements that had 
been added to the apparatus, mainly at the Central Station, 
where the operation of connecting the wires of subscribers has 
been vastly simplified. The success of the telephone led to an 
increased popular interest in Electricity, and much good re- 
sulted in a general way. 

You speak of a Central Station. Is there any power-house 
needed ? 

Xo. The central station is for the purpose of connecting the 
wires of subscribers together at their request. In large cities, 
this action is made easier and more rapid by the establishment 
of sub-stations, where wires that are in the same region may be 
united at the sub-station. 

When I ring the telephone and call for a number, what hap- 
pens at the central station ? 

As you ring, an electric light glows at the number of your 
telephone on a great board — the switch-board — which is full of 
small holes for pegs. A girl sits on a stool or stands before 
this board. Clasped to her ears are two small telephone 
receivers, made especially for her purposes. Before her there 
hangs on wires, a speaking disk or diaphragm, also made es- 
pecially for her purposes. She sees a glow at the hole which 
has your number. She connects her disk with your number 
and asks you what number you want. You reply. 

What does she do now ? 

She has in her hand an insulated wire, at each end of which is 
a peg, and this wire also runs through the wires that are at her 
ear, or may be so connected at her will. She places one of the 



ELECTRICITY. 67 

pegs in the hole at your number and the other peg in the hole 
at the number you want, and a bell sets to ringing at the tele- 
phone which you have called up. This bell she can ring again, 
if she finds that you do not get action. She knows all your 
troubles before you know them yourself, and unless she be a 
person of whom you should at once complain, it is always wise 
to speak to her in a low voice pleasantly. You call for two thou- 
sand and eight. She will "prove" the call by repeating it thus 
— two double aught, eight. You say, yes. In case you are 
convinced that she is careless and worthless, you have only to 
ask her to call the superintendent to your telephone, and he will 
correct or discharge her — or he will gather from the tone of 
your complaint and the character of your charge, that she may 
not be altogether to blame. It is to be noted that complaints 
of this nature grow less frequent with the improvement of com- 
munication on the telephone. The telephone girl is generally 
admitted by those who see her while on duty, to be the busiest 
person in town. 

Describe the instrument at which I speak when I telephone. 

In the first place you have in the mechanism of your own ear, 
a telephone receiver and transmitter. The diaphragm or drum- 
head of your ear is practically imitated in the iron disks which 




Fig. 29. BELL'S RECEIVER. 

are placed one each in the receiver and the transmitter of the 
instrument. When sound strikes these diaphragms from with- 
out, the wire carries the sound-waves to the other end ot the 
wire, where another diaphragm makes the same movement 



08 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



that were caused by your voice at this end. In the receiver 

which you hold in your hand there is a Multipolar Magnet. 

What is a Multipolar Magnet ? 

We know that a Magnet does not need to be crooked like a 
horseshoe — it may be a straight bar. This straight magnet in 

the receiver is made of four strips of separ- 
ately magnetized steel, so that the diaph- 
ragm or disk, when you speak against it, 
plays against four poles at once — multi- 
polar action — " many poles/' But a small 
electro-magnet — that is, a magnet made by 
an electrified wire wrapped around it, is 
between the diaphragm and the long multi- 
polar magnet, and the two wires that go 
out of the receiver attach to the little 
Electro-Magnet, and not to the large com- 
pound or multipolar Magnet. You could 
talk into this diaphragm, for it is a tele- 
phone, but it receives far better than it 
transmits. The electricians do not give a 
thoroughly satisfactory reason for the use 
of two different Magnets in trie receiver, 
but the big compound one seems to act 
only as a governor or storage, and all 
ordinary telephones have this receiver. Its 
long case is made of vulcanized rubber. 




Fig 30. BELL'S TELE- 
PHONE-MOUTH PIECE 



Is the transmitter essentially different ? 

Yes, Edison's carbon button and Blake's 
platinum transmitter play an important 
part in giving clearness to the sound-waves. You speak against 
the disk in the box. In the center of the disk is a platinum point. 
This point presses against a carbon button,, and the carbon 
equalizes the current of Electricity, making it stronger or 
weaker, according to the force with which the point strikes the 
carbon. The carbon connects with the electric circuit. The 
battery which electrifies the machine before you is in the box 
with the slanting lid over which you speak. The wire in its 



ELECTRICITY. 



69 



circuit begins and ends in this machine, and is called the pri- 
mary or local circuit. Your voice causes sound or electric waves 
in this circuit, and your voice has no direct connection with 
the wire on the poles in the street. 




Fig. 31. BLAKE'S TRANSMITTER. 
The current passes through the clamp K, into the primary coil of the induction 
apparatus «/, through the spring/ into the platinum cylinder p, through the carbon at m 
into F, through Wto 8, and then back to the battery. 

How is that connection secured ? 

By induction. When the street wire enters your box it coils 
into a fine silk-wrapped wire, which encircles the coils of your 
primary wire, and the Lines of Force from your local coil carry 
your voice over to the secondary coil, and it sounds much clearer 
than it would if it were the original current. You see that the 
arrangement at both ends is complex. There seems to the peo- 



70 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



pie to be little use for the long Magnet in the hand-receiver, or 
for the primary coil in the box. 

What other use has opened for the telephone ? 

At Buda-Pesth, Hungary, a daily Telephone Newspaper has 
long been in successful operation. The news begins at 9:30 a. 
m. and continues until late at night. The programme is pub- 
lished to subscribers every day. The 
markets, foreign news, concerts, lect- 
ures, sermons, opera and drama, go 
on at certain hours. The receivers 
are small disks, which go on each ear, 
and the long compound magnet is 
left out. A corps of reporters gathers 
and writes the news. A corps of 
Stentors (loud-voiced speakers) is at 
hand to speak the news. The Hir- 
mondo Telephone is an institution of 
which Buda-Pesth is proud, and has 
a large number of annual subscribers. 
The sick or convalescent are especi- 
ally benefited by its conveniences. 

Is there a7iy similar institution 
elsewhere ? 

Yes. The Theatrophone. At Paris the theatres are served 
with telephone attachments, which convey to distant persons all 
the sounds of the stage and audience, by which not only the 
voices of the actors can be heard, but the stir in the audience, 
and the relative size of the "house" can be judged by the skill- 
ful. 

Is there a long-distance Telephone ? 

Yes. The small cities adjoining large ones were attached to 
the city systems as early as 1888. The fee is extra, and varies, 
usually up to half a dollar for a conversation between cities in 
the same State. But in 1890, after many failures, the Long Dis- 
tance Telephone between Chicago and New York was put in 
successful operation at a fee of nine dollars for five minutes' 




Fig. 32. EDISON'S CARBON 
SPEAKING TELEPHONE. 



ELECTRICITY. 71 

conversation. Professor Bell was the first person to speak at 
the New York end, and Mayor Washburne replied from Chicago. 

What other remarkable thing has been done lately with Elec- 
tricity ? 

The Storage Battery has been perfected, and by its agency 
the electric launches at the World's Fair are supposed to have 
yielded a profit of $500,000. By attaching this battery to a 
Dynamo, certain chemical changes take place in the metals 
within. When the Dynamo is taken off, the chemical changes 
are reversed, and the work is more slowly undone. At Paris, 
the Societe Anonyme pour le Travail Electrique des Metaux, 
and at Philadelphia the Electric Storage Battery Company 
almost simultaneously discovered that a fusion of chloride of zinc 
and chloride of lead would, when put under electro-chemical 
action, produce pure lead in crystaline form, arousing much 
greater electrical action with less destruction of the original 
material than had ever before been attained. The result was 
the formation of an almost world-wide monopoly, and it seems 
probable that these Chloride Accumulators, as they are called, 
will soon be offered for rent in all houses, to run sewing ma- 
chines, electric fans, heaters, cooking-stoves, lights, and for 
chemical purposes. 

Is the Chloride Accumulator commercially successful else- 
where than in the electric latmches ? (See page 44). 

Yes. The French Company runs three lines of street railway 
in Paris, two going to St. Denis, northwest ol the city, and 
furnishes light to Paris streets in over 200,000 lamps of sixteen- 
candle power. The first installation of Storage Batteries at a 
power-house in America was at Merrill, Wisconsin, where, in 
January, 1895, a series of two hundred and forty Chloride 
Accumulators was attached to the Dynamo of the railway and 
lighting plants. When these Storage Batteries are full, the 
street cars can be operated without the Dynamo for hours at a 
time. Understand, that the Storage Batteries are not on the 
cars, but in the power-house. But suppose your Electric Light 
Dynamo stops at midnight. If you attached a Storage Battery 
to your light fixture or electrolier during the day-time, and 



:a 



THE El RESIDE UNIVERSITY, 



thus charged the Accumulator (Storage Battery), then, after 
midnight you could have electric light as long as the Accumu- 
lator stayed " alive. " This is what would happen: While the 
current was acting in the acids of the battery, one form of lead 
was changing into another. When the intruding Electricity 
ceased, the plus plates unloaded into the minus plates, carrying 
back with them the matter that was deposited before, and 




Fig. 33. PLANTERS BATTERY (PARIS), AS HE PERFECTED IT 
BEFORE HE DIED. 



setting up a current of electricity in the wires that led out of the 
Accumulator. The man who first tried to do this was Gaston 
Plante, and all who have reaped benefits from the Storage 
Battery, owe to him their thanks, for though he did not make 
it pay, his lead plates are today the real basis of the Chloride 
Accumulator. He lived and toiled in order that countless 
thousands might be the happier. 

What advantages does the Electric Launch possess ? 

The batteries are placed around the boat under the seats, 
giving twice the room that can be found on a steam launch. 
There is little pleasure in running a steam launch, owing to 
the intensity of watchfulness which the owner or engineer 
must give to the many cocks, registers and gauges. Nearly 
every owner speaks of this strain. In hot weather, when thes§ 



ELECTRICITY. 73 

boats are most in use, the heat of the boiler, the fumes of the 
gas, or the smoke of the coal, are uncomfortable. It is to be 
said, however, that accidents from explosion are remarkably 
rare, if we consider the great number of amateur engineers that 
ply our little inland lakes. The electric launch does not dis- 
pense with the whirring sensation of the propeller-wheel. 

What is the history of the Electric Launch ? 

Trouve, at Paris, exhibited the first boat in 1881, at the 
Exposition. Reckenzaun put forty-five Accumulators on a 
launch at Vienna in 1882. Five years before the World's Fair 
at Chicago, electric launches were in regular use on the Thames 
River, at London, and on Lake Winandermere, in Lanca- 
shire. At the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1890, the 
electric launches scored a decided success. At the Chicago 
World's Fair there were fifty thirty-six foot boats. There was 
a little electric motor on the propeller shaft. The Accumulators 
were charged at night at a station under the east platform of 
the Agricultural Building. Sixty-six Accumulator cells were 
used on each boat, and the cost for power was about fifty-five 
cents a day for each boat. General Barney, who managed the 
World's Fair fleet, set up a manufactory at Boston. 

For what other important use is the Accumulator intended? 

For street carriages, or motor-cyles. These have pneumatic 
tires, and bicycle construction — that is, ball bearings. But it is 
also possible that the trolley may play an important part in the 
traction of all kind of vehicles, and that the horse as a draught 
animal may cease to be generally used. The lasting qualities 
of the latest Accumulators are highly satisfactory. They are 
charged in great rooms, hundreds and thousands at a time. 

What is the Telautograph ? 

A wonderful electrical instrument invented by Profess n 
Elisha Gray, of Chicago, w r hereby hand-writing is transmitted 
by telegraph, and bank checks may be signed at a great distance. 
At the receiving instrument a pencil moves as if by an unseen 
hand, and at the other end of the wire from the Sending 



A^ 






Fig. 34. THE TELAUTOGRAPH— TRANSMITTING INSTRUMENT. 



r 




Pig. 35. THE TELAUTOGRAPH— RECEIVING INSTRUMENT, 



ELECTRICITY. 75 

instrument. The pencil will write the word lighten and then go 
back and dot the i and cross the t. 

Describe the Transmitter ? 

An ordinary lead pencil is used, near the point of which two 
silk cords are fastened at right angles to each other. These 
cords connect with the instrument, and following the motions 
of the pencil, regulate the current impulses which control the 
receiving pen at the distant station. The writing is done on 
ordinary paper, — five inches wide, — conveniently arranged on a 
roll attached to the machine. A lever at the left is so moved by 
the hand as to shift the paper forward mechanically at the Trans- 
mitter, and electrically at the Receiver. 

Describe the Receiver. 

The receiving pen is a capillary glass tube placed at the junc« 
tion of two aluminium arms. This glass pen is supplied with 
ink which flows from a reservoir through a small rubber tube 
placed in one of these arms. The electrical impulses, coming 
over the wire, move the pen of the Receiver simultaneously with 
the movements of the pencil in the hand of the sender. As the 
pen passes over the paper, an ink tracing is left, which is always 
a fac-simile of the sender's motions, whether in the formation of 
letters, words, figures, signs or sketches. 

What is Electrocution ? 

Execution of death sentence by Electricity. Through the ef- 
forts of Elbridge Gerry and others, the State of New York de- 
termined to kill its condemned murderers quicker and with less 
pain than through the ordinary means of hanging. In May, 
1889, William Kemmler of Buffalo, murdered his wife, and was 
the first person to come under the operation of the new law. 
The Westin^house Electric Company made a strong legal con- 
test in behalf of Kemmler, but the Supreme Court of the United 
States decided in favor of the State of New York. Kemmler 
was accordingly killed by Electricity at Auburn Prison, August 
6, 1891. The arrangements were crude, as the Dynamo which 
made the current was at a distance, and the executioner had no 



flg THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

volt meter or register by which to measure the current which he 
was using. The murderer was seated in a rough chair. He was 
then made a part of the circuit coming from the Dynamo. This 
was done by fixing a cap on his head, and other caps on his limbs. 
The caps or electrodes became loose and the body was burned, 
but after two attempts, Kemmler was pronounced dead. The 
chair was condemned as inefficient, and was afterwards exhibited 
in the Anthropological Building of the World's Fair of 1893. 
Jugiro, a Japanese murderer, of New York City, was the second 
culprit upon whom sentence of death was executed in this man- 
ner, and the custom is now accepted as humane and successful. 

What is the Electric Fan ? 

A useful small brass wheel, shaped like a ship's propeller. In 
an iron sphere at its rear is an Electric Motor — that is, a Dynamo 
reversed. Wires connect the Motor with a power-house. Turn 
a switch, and the wheel revolves with high speed, sending out a 
column of moving air,, which may be felt for a distance of twenty 
feet in a room that would otherwise be without an appreciable 
draught. 

What is an Electric Ventilator ? 

Practically the same apparatus on a larger scale. The wheel 
is made of iron, and placed in a circular aperture, usually leading 
directly to the open air. Here the air from the room is sucked 
into the blades of the revolving propeller, and a corresponding 
quantity of fresh air is attracted into the room through the 
doors and windows. The Electric Motor stands on a shelf near 
by, and a belt carries its power to the fan in the wheel window. 
Many crowded lodge-rooms, theatres, restaurants and depart- 
ment stores within the circuit of power-houses are thus supplied 
with ventilating facilities. It is of the greatest benefit in flour- 
ing mills. 

What about Electricity and war ? 

The Search-Light, mounted on a wagon, with its own steam 
engine and Dynamo, searches the battle-field for the wounded, 
and carefully explores the most distant points of the country 
for the enemy. The modern war vessel is wired from stem to 



ELECTRICITY. 77 

stern and carries an Electrical Engineer. The Trenton, in 1886, 
was the first ship to be served with incandescent lights. The 
Search Light is on the conning tower. The officer in the con- 
ning tower fires the guns himself, whether singly or as 
broadsides. Let us see how that is done, as the same device 
may be used for firing any explosive blast. An open tube filled 
with powder is connected with the powder of the cannon. Into 
this tube and its powder runs a platinum wire wrapped with 
gun cotton. To this wire the wires of an ordinary battery are 
attached. The officer on the conning tower connects the two 
wires by pressing his button, and the platinum wire becomes so 
hot that it sets fire to the gun cotton. Gun cotton is made by 
soaking cotton or other fibre in nitric and sulphuric acids. 

What is an Electric Torpedo Boat ? 

A charge of explosives is carried in a cigar-shaped sub-marine 
vessel. There is an Electric Motor on board, served with an 
Electric cable from shore. On a reel is wound the cable that 
may be paid out as the torpedo moves away. At the other side of 
the reel lie coils of cable that may wind up to take the place of 
the cable paid out. The Dynamo on shore starts and the Motor 
on board goes, therefore its propeller goes. Steering apparatus 
is operated in the same way — all from shore, or from the con- 
ning tower of the man-of-war. This is the general idea of the 
Sims-Edison Torpedo Boat. It is designed to carry a mine of 
explosives under or near a hostile man-of-war, and to blow the 
enemy to pieces or cause great damage. In February, 1898, 
the first-class battle-ship Maine was blown to pieces in Havana 
harbor. 

What is the Gymnote ? 

It is a successful Electrical Submarine Vessel made for the 
French Navy by Zede, Krebbs and Ramazotti. The name is 
taken from the Latin name of the animal known as the electric 
eel. This vessel, built since 1888, is fifty-nine feet long, six feet 
in greatest diameter, and cigar-shaped. She carries three men 
on board. She is designed to travel at the surface of the water 
usually, and at ten knots an hour. She can be sunk to eight 



'8 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



yards beneath the surface and then proceeds at half the speed. 
The armature of the Motor is built up on the shaft of the four- 
bladed screw propeller wheel, which protrudes at the rear of the 
boat. Movable horizontal outside planes or guides, together 
with the force of the screw, direct the level at which the boat 
shall proceed; if these planes are slanted with the ends nearest 
the center of the boat turned downward, the screw will force 
the boat downward. At the center and top of the boat there is 
a cab-window for the engineer. The Storage Accumulators, 
weighing six tons, serve as ballast, and give out fifty-five horse- 
power. Water-tanks are filled as the vessel sinks, and emptied 
as she rises, to assist her movements. Chambers also contain 
compressed air, and whenever the air pressure inside is too great, 
foul air will escape. Incandescent lights are used on board. 
The French Government built a larger boat on these lines at a 
cost of $225,000. George C. Baker, of Chicago, tested a very 
ingenious and interesting submarine electric vessel in Lake Mich- 
igan in 1892. She carried an active steam engine when afloat, 
charged her Accumulators with a Dynamo, and after she sank, 
the Accumulators used the Dynamo for a Motor. It is believed 
that the great Search-Lights will be used in submarine vessels 
for scientific investigation. 

What is the Electric Log ? 

It is a Marine Cyclometer, and measures the speed and 
progress of the ship. On the end of an electric cable, hung out 
from the ship, is a screw wheel. At every revolution of the 
wheel, the electric circuit inside the cable is broken and closed. 
A dial on board the ship records these movements, much as the 
cyclometer on a bicycle records the revolutions of the bicycle- 
wheel. 

What is Nikola Tesla's Oscillator ? 

It is a combination of steam engine and Dynamo, which is 
expected to save 18 per cent, of friction now existing in the 
average steam engine, 10 per cent, of belt friction as engine and 
Dynamo are usually connected, and 32 per cent, of wasted 
energy occurring in such a Dynamo as we have already described 
— that is, the form of Dynamo in general use. Let us imagine 



ELECTRICITY. 



n 




Fig. 36. TESLA'S OSCILLATOR. 



a steam-chest; when the steam goes in, out goes the piston. On 
the piston is an Armature, the armature of a Dynamo. When the 
piston goes out it enters the Magnetic Field of an Electro- 
Magnet or coil, and a current is set up in the piston. When it 
goes back, another piston takes its place. Tesla's Oscillator was 

furnishing the power for sixty incan- 
descent lights when his laboratory 
burned in 1895. The pistons are 
vibrated eighty to two hundred times 
a second, or more rapidly than the 
eye can follow them. The first Oscil- 
lator was built on a vertical plan, as 
shown in our illustration. The suc- 
ceeding examples have been made on 
a horizontal plan. The machine 
shows that it makes no difference in 
what manner a wire enters a Magnetic 
Field, whether by rotation or piston 
movement. The Tesla machine 
caused a sensation among practical electricians, but in the 
meantime, attention was attracted to Edison, who hoped to turn 
heat into electricity without the intermediation of steam. 

Yes. Tell me about Thermo-Electricity . 

Thermo-Electricity means Electricity that is generated by 
means of heat. The Clamond Generator, a laboratory machine, 
is a pile of rings made of metal alloys. Between the rings of 
metal are rings of asbestos. By burning a light in the centre 
and allowing ordinary radiation from the outside, a feeble cur- 
rent of Electricity is generated. Edison and others expended 
years of study and experiment in trying to develop this idea, 
and great improvements have been made in the Clamond Gen- 
erator. Dr. W. Borchers, of Duisburg, Germany, has attacked 
the problem on what we may call its chemical side, hoping to 
act on coal with acids, and by cold combustion to secure the 
quantity of Electricity that is stored in every piece of fuel. The 
mechanism of animal life offers examples of cold combustion, 
and in the warmest blooded creatures the heat rises only to less 



80 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

than 99 degrees above the Fahrenheit zero. Dr. Borchers has 
announced to the German Electro-Chemical Society that the 
cold combustion of the gaseous products of coal and oil in a gas 
battery, and its direct conversion into electrical energy can 
certainly be accomplished. Edison is understood to be part 
owner of a coal mine, and has a large personal interest in the 
success of these experiments. It is calculated that of ioo per 
cent, of energy stored in the fuel which is used under the 
boilers at the power house, only 15 per cent, goes into the 
"live" wire that hangs in the street — a waste of 85 per cent. 

What is the Electric Weed-Killer. 

This device is attached to a locomotive where the weeds or 
thistles are flourishing on a right-of-way, and strong currents 
sent into the vegetation as the locomotive passes; destroy the 
growth. 

What is t/ie BroU System for an Electrical Railway? 

Its experimental line is built between Washington, D. C, and 
Chesapeake Bay. It is commonly called the Bicycle Railway. 
The General Electric Company guarantees generators, motors, 
and accompanying electrical apparatus that will propel these 
cars at the rate of 150 miles an hour — that is, the axles will go 
around fast enough if the atmosphere shall allow the passage of 
a car at such a speed. Inasmuch as the hundred-ton steam 
engine i( 999," shown at the World's Fair of 1893, attained a 
speed of 100 miles an hour, the claims of the Brott System are 
admitted by scientists. 

Why is it called a Bicycle Railway ? 

Because the weight of the car is to be sustained largely on 
one central rail, two other upper and side rails serving only as 
guides, and rarely in that way. That is, there will be three 
rails, a central one low down and two outer ones about six feet 
up in the air. When the car is going rapidly, its side-wheels, 
which protrude like the trunnions of a cannon, will not touch the 
side tracks, as the car will sustain itself vertically like a bicycle 



ELECTRICITY. 81 

in motion. The electric motor will have its armature on the car 
axle, so that the axle will go as fast as the armature revolves 
within its Magnetic Field. 

Why should this car go so fast as is expected ? 

Because the rotary motion of an old-time locomotive wheel is 
the result of the motion of a steam piston that stops still twice 
for every revolution of the wheel, and no such wheel can 
approach the possible speed of the rotary action of an electric 
motor. Again, ball bearings and bicycle construction give to 
the light car used a saving in friction as great as the difference 
in friction between the action of a bicycle and a farm wagon. 
The old system carries a ton of weight with each passenger; the 
new carries 400 pounds. The route to New York from Chicago 
is to be covered in eight hours. These light roads will come 
into favor first at pleasure resorts, and one is building at Minne- 
apolis. The electric current can be delivered at all speeds. The 
power-house will operate for fifty miles. Lubrication and air 
pressure offer no unknown difficulties, and a very fast railroad 
of this order is assured. The line is practically elevated, and 
all stretches of road between stations must be perfectly straight. 
It is thus to be seen that it will not work in the mountains, and 
must take the long way across the continent. 

What is the Kinetoscope ? 

In its full form it is the Kineto-Phcnograph, an instrument for 
conveying to the eye and ear, at the same time, a record of the 
acts and sounds of persons and animals. As the public has 
seen it for several years, it is simply the Kinetoscope, little 
effort having been made to conjoin the Phonograph. As the 
Kinetoscope is shown it is not electric, save that it is run by a 
Motor. The Kinetoscope has its origin in the Tachyscope, the 
Zoetrope, and other toys and machines that have been long 
familiar. Either the observer looks through a lens on a 
passing tape of lighted photographs, or this tape is thrown on 
a screen, and called Vitascope, Eidoscope, etc. But if we enter 
Edison's workshop and see how the photographs and phono- 
6 



82 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



graphs were prepared, we shall not cease to admire iuc patience, 
genius and success of this great American, the type of Modern 
Man. 

Describe Edison's Kineto- Phonographic Theatre t 

It is a simple small room, growing less toward the stage end, 
where there is a black background. Twenty arc lights, with 
reflectors, throw fifty-thousand candle-power of illumination on 
the actors. At the proper distance stands the phonograph, with 







Fig. 37. TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS AND WORDS FOR KINETOSCOPE 

PHONOGRAPH. 

its big horn outstretched to catch every sound. This Phono- 
graph is electrically connected with the Kinetograph (not 
Kinetoscope, this time), alongside. Now the actors begin, or 
the pugilists commence to box. Professor Edison succeeded in 
taking forty-six photographs each second. Inside a drum, a 
highly-sensitized tape of celluloid, perforated at the edges, runs 



ELECTRICITY. 83 

at the rate of twenty miles an hour. But the tape stops still 
forty-six times a second, and is at a stand nine-tenths of the 
time. As it stops, a shutter opens and the photograph is taken. 
The holes in the tape enable the locking machinery to start 
and stop the tape properly. When the tape stops, the electrical 
connection with the Phonograph regulates that instrument 
accordingly. We will now suppose that Corbett and Courtney 
spar for four rounds — a scene that first demonstrated the success 
of Edison's labors. Each round lasts exactly a minute. As the 
athletes strike and leap, clinch and break away, the tape makes 
two thousand seven hundred and sixty stops, and that many 
pictures are taken on a very long strip of celluloid. The electric 
part of the operation is now over. To merely see the reproduc- 
tion of this boxing match, the tape is reeled on spools, a lens or 
two may be put in a case overhead, an incandescent light may 
be lit under the lens, beneath the transparent tape, and the 
Motor set going. The tape goes by in one minute. The motions 
of the athletes are faster than they would be in a natural bout, 
and the eye detects a jerky movement, but to all intents, the 
picture is a complete and moving one, though moving too 
rapidly. 

What zvill be the uses of the Kineto- Phonograph in the 
future ? 

It will carry a much improved record to the next ages. 
Costumes, battles, volcanic eruptions, conflagrations, cyclones, 
voices, gestures, and physiognomy, the occult impressions con- 
veyed by great men, orators, leaders, teachers, reformers, 
inventors — all these records will be bestowed by the Nineteenth 
Century on the coming cycles of time; and education, thus aided 
by the past, will proceed more rapidly to the enfranchisement 
of the race. 

Tell me about the " Chaining of Niagara Falls" as it is 
called. 

The mathematicians give to the fall of water at Niagara an 
energy of 8,250,000 horse power. The first or present power- 
house of the Cataract Construction Company utilizes 50,000 
horse-power, and the canal and tunnel already made will run 



84 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



two such power-houses. The energy utilized at the World's 
Fair of 1893, by the greatest battery of steam boilers the world 
had ever seen, was reckoned at less than 30,000 horse-power. 
Niagara would still serve 164 other similar power-houses. 

JV/iat did the Company do ? 

It began its labors in 1889 and got practical results in 1895. 
It dug and walled a big canal to the site of the power-house. 




Fig. 38. 1. THE FIVE THOUSAND HORSE-POWER DYNAMO AT NIAGARA. 

2. CROSS SECTION OF SAME. 3. INTERIOR OF POWER-HOUSE 

AND WHEEL-PIT. 



ELECTRICITY. 85 

Then it sank a well or long wheel-pit alongside of the canal, 
where it could get water conveniently. Note that this deep 
well, at the earth's surface, was one hundred and forty feet long 
and twenty-one feet wide. This big well was sunk in the solid 
rock to a depth of one hundred and seventy-nine feet. Now let 
us view the general situation. The Niagara River, running from 
Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, falls over a ledge of rock a distance 
of from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty-four 
feet. At the bottom, the gorge into which the river has fallen 
also runs rapidly down-hill. The Company has extended its 
canal until it has been able to secure a private water-fall of one 
hundred and seventy-nine feet, although the actual fall of the 
water that is used is one hundred and thirty-six feet. After it 
is used, it follows a tunnel more than a mile and a quarter and 
empties into the gorge below the Falls. Thus, it goes a quarter 
mile in the canal; it falls one hundred and seventy-nine feet in 
the wheel-pit; it flows a mile and a quarter in the tunnel and 
again joins Niagara River, but man has caught, meanwhile, 
50,000 horse-power of its energy, and needs to do that much 
less labor with his hands and back in order to live upon the 
earth. 

How does the water enter the wheel-pit ? 

In pipes or penstocks. At the bottom of the pit and at the 
end of the penstock is a turbine wheel. When the water comes 
to the wheel, the wheel goes around. The steel shaft that as- 
cends from the turbine wheel reaches the surface in the power- 
house, and, of course, turns around with all the power of the 
wheel. The shaft is a rolled steel tube of thirty-seven inches in 
diameter. At its various bearings, on the way down to the 
bottom it becomes solid steel, with a diameter of eleven inches. 
Now, this shaft weighs thirty-six tons, and forty tons must be 
hung on it, as we shall show, and then the downward pressure 
of the water in the penstock is also to be resisted. Was it not 
probable that something would break ? 

How did they solve those questions ? 

A commission of engineers met at London to decide on gen- 
eral plans. Its members were, Lord Kelvin, of England, Chair- 



86 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

man ; Professor Cawthorne Unwin, of London, Secretary ; Pro- 
fessor E. Mascart, of Paris, and Dr. Coleman Sellers, of Phila- 
delphia. It was agreed that the power should be turned into 
Electricity instead of compressed air, because it was believed, 
the developments in Electricity bade fair to be more valuable 
than any improvements we might reasonably expect in the use of 
compressed air. No other methods of utilizing energy were 
seriously considered. It was determined that the water should 
leave the penstock in an upward direction, lifting the turbine 
wheel rather than dashing down on it. That is, the water, 
coming out of the penstock, moves with a lifting motion against 
the disk that carries the movable blades of the upper turbine. 
You must understand that nowadays, when • a water-wheel's 
blade comes around where it opposes the water, it collapses and 
offers no resistance. The turbine wheel is five feet and a half 
in diameter, and goes around two hundred and fifty times a 
minute. Now also understand, that a shaft of steel rises out of the 
center of the turbine wheel — that is, on the wheel, to the top of 
the wheel-pit. 

Well, yon spoke of forty tons that were to be loaded on this 
shaft. What was that ? 

The Dynamo. The top of the shaft was to be a Dynamo. 
It must be different from any Dynamo ever made before. 
It must not weigh more than forty tons, and it must have 
a fly-wheel effect of 550,000 tons. The fly-wheel in gearing, 
is a storage battery of power. It condenses or stores power, 
and equalizes the force of the machine. It is what the 
Accumulator is to Electricity. Now, naturally, the armature 
would be built up on the top end of the long steel shaft, but 
this would offer no fly-wheel. If the fly-wheel were added, 
there would be too much weight. So Nikola Tesla and the 
engineers solved the problem by fixing the Magnetic Field — 
that is, the Electro-Magnets and their Lines of Force — to the 
shaft itself, and the Magnetic Field revolves around the arma- 
ture, which is stationary. It is as though the shaft run by the 
steam engine in the Dynamo at your nearest street car power- 
house stood still, and the iron jaws of the Electro-Magnets that 



ELECTRICITY. 87 

now inclose it, were turning somersaults around it. Now the 
shaft revolves, and the armature sends into its wires 5,000 horse- 
power of energy, or about twice the power of the largest Allis 
steam engine at the World's Fair of 1893. Thus, for the 50,000 
horse-power of this power-house, there must be ten turbines, 
ten penstocks, and ten of these back-action Dynamos. The wires 
of the Company will carry working currents to Motors one 
hundred miles away. 

What has been done so far ? 

The City of Buffalo, twenty miles away, rents power for its 
water-works and street lamps. The rent for the water-works is 
twenty dollars each annual horse-power, and for arc lights, fifty 
dollars a year. The city of Buffalo may buy the local plant of 
Motors at the end of twenty years, and the Company must 
meanwhile charge all customers at one price. On the grounds 
of the Niagara Development Company adjacent, the Pittsburg 
Reduction Company uses 3,000 horse-power in making alumin- 
ium. The Niagara Falls Paper Company uses 3,000 horse- 
power. A factory for calcium carbides, a material needed in 
the manufacture of acetylene gas, is one of the tenants. At the 
Electrical Exposition of 1896, in New York City, where Edison 
sent a telegraphic message around the world, machines were 
driven by power that came from the turbines in the Niagara 
wheel-pit. Five more Dynamos were put in in 1898. 

Is Electrotyping aft Electric process? 

Yes. Distinctively so. The plates of this book are thus cast 
from the types of softer and less durable metal than copper. By 
making electro-plates many economies are wisely practised. 
First, the types are set into the form desired and dusted with 
plumbago. Then the form is turned face downward in a flat 
vessel of beeswax, and properly pressed. Then the wax mould 
thus secured is suspended in a bath or battery containing 
usually a mixture of sulphate of copper and water, and a plate 
of copper is also put in the water. A Dynamo is turned on to 
secure rapid deposits of copper on the wax, and after a night in 
the bath, the wax comes out coated with copper, making a thin 



88 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

copper shell. The shell is warmed so that a sheet of tin foil will 
adhere to its inside or back, and upon that tin foil melted type 
metal is poured, to give the plate strength. The plate can then 
be fixed upon a wooden block, or the backing can be made as 
thick as a type-form; but for book-work the plates are made so 
that they may be used on blocks which the pressman furnishes. 
When not in use, a set of book-plates is kept in strong boxes. 
The great objection to electrotyping is that it is too slow for 
modern times. The papier mache process of stereotyping, or 
making type-metal plates, is an entirely different process, with- 
out the use of electricity, except as power. 

What is the Gas Flash-lighter ? 

It is an electrical arrangement and device, whereby illumina- 
ting gas can be lit by touching a button in the wall. A battery 
is kept in the basement, which is inspected and attended by the 
company. The gasolier is wired. Around each gas-burner is 
a jacket containing a tiny motor and stopcock. The motor is 
set going and opens the gas valve. An arm holding a wire-pole 
swings across the field of escaping gas; the spark flies from pole 
to pole at the nearest point to the other pole, and the gas takes 
fire. By this means, the light can be turned on or off by touching 
buttons, as if it were an electrolier instead of a gasolier. 

What is Eleetro-plating ? 

The same as Electrolysis and Electrotyping, only that one 




Fig. 39. DYNAMO-IIAND-POWER, FOR ELECTRO-PLATING, ETC. 

metal is deposited on another, a superior on an inferior quality, 




ELECTRICITY. 89 

for many commercial purposes, but principally by jewelers and 
gold and silver smiths. In 1897, the price of silver had fallen so 
low, and competition had become so keen, that plated silver 
goods were to be had for the old price of tin. Jacobi, in Ger- 
many, John Wright, in England, and De Ruolz, in France, were 
the first great silver-platers. The vat holds a solution of cyanide 
of silver in cyanide of potassium. The objects to be covered 
with silver are made of copper, zinc and nickel (german silver). 
These are washed in hot caustic potash, and before the washing 
are "scratch-brushed" with wires in a lathe, the wires being 
moistened with stale beer. Baths or "pickles" of nitric and 
other acids are also used. The articles are then "quicked" by 
dipping them in a solution of nitrate of mercury or cyanide of 
mercury. A thin film of quicksilver is deposited on the article, 
which is now rinsed with water. 

What comes next ? 

It is ready for the electric bath. The vats were once made 
of wood, but later, wrought iron was substituted. Plates of sil- 
ver are suspended from a frame which connects with the positive 
pole, or anode. The articles to be plated are suspended from a 
similar frame that connects with the negative pole, or cathode. 
(See the chapter on the X Ray). An ounce of silver will heavily 
plate a square foot of surface. The best manufacturers advertise 
triple-plated goods, implying that the article went in the silver 
bath three times. On removal, the plated objects are dipped in 
hot water, again "scratched brushed" with beer and dried in 
hot sawdust. 

What is Electro-Metallurgy ? 

Any similar process, by which one metal is deposited on 
another. Thus, copper plates for bank-notes are hardened by 
the deposit of iron. Flowers and insects are preserved by the 
deposit of beautifying metals. Exposed iron work is coated 
with copper. Plaster statues are coated with metal. Gold jew- 
elry of delicate workmanship is deposited by electricity in 
molds of gutta percha or plaster. Watch cases have offered a 
popular form of gold plating. 



90 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

What has bee ji the effect of Electrical progress on the metallic 
industries t 

A revolution has followed in these lines. Copper, (except 
from Lake Superior) Zinc, Manganese, Chromium, Aluminium, 
Sodium, Potassium, and all the Chlorates are produced by Elec- 
trolysis. Carborundum, to take the place of emery dust, is made 
by a current of Electricity. Calcium Carbide for acetylene gas, 
is made by Electricity. 

What happened to burglar-proof safes ? 

It was discovered, in 1897, that an electrical expert could 
fasten his apparatus to an electric light fixture, and with a car- 
bon candle, bore a hole in any safe whatever inside of two 
minutes. The hole could be made as big as a man's arm. The 
hardest steel melted like ice before the electric light thus 
applied. 

How are maps commonly made ? 

A copper plate is first covered with lamp black, and then with 
wax. Names of places, etc., are separately set in type in small 
hand-holders and stamped into the wax down to the black. 
The lines are also drawn down to the black. Thus a mold is 
made. This mold is then suspended in an electrotyper's bath, 
and copper is electrically deposited on the wax mold, making 
the electrotype or "cut" of the map. More maps are made at 
Chicago than anywhere else in America. Maps may, of course, 
be engraved on copper, steel or stone, without the electrical 
method. 

Finally ', tell me a wonderful thing that Electricity is yet 
to do ? 

We are to see through a thousand miles of wire. This in- 
strument is the Telectroscope — to see afar. It has been hypo- 
thetically invented by Leon Le Pontois, a French savant, and it 
is declared to be as clearly conceived as the theory of Columbus 
that a vessel could sail to the west around a spherical Earth. 
Before making an attempt to outline this invention, let us marls 



ELECTRICITY. ftl 

the ancient experiment of Professor Pepper, a noted lecturer, 
who burned a Drummond light in a dark camera. In this 
camera was a revolving disk that let out a slit (or thin sector) of 
a circle of light each time the disk revolved. This revolution 
was enormously rapid. But still a flash of light would be pro- 
jected each time the slit came around. In front of the camera 
was a very large wooden wheel. Now if the wooden wheel stood 
still in the dark — for the lecture-room was also darkened for 
this experiment — then we would see just one spoke, the spoke 
on which the little slit flashed its light. A boy now turned the 
big wooden wheel, while Professor Pepper turned the metal 
disk. The wheel would be going so fast that its spokes could 
not be discerned if the lights of the hall were on. Thereupon 
the following phenomenon was shown : The slit was lighting 
each time a separate spoke of the big wheel, and yet the speed 
of light is so great and the registering power of the eye so good, 
that although the big wheel was revolving three hundred times a 
minute, still it apparently was not moving at all — in fact, it 
would oscillate slowly back and forth — a wonderful illusion, 
teaching that the eye cannot always be sure of what it sees. 

What has this to do with the Telectroscope ? 

The new instrument retains the revolving disks, and oxygen 
and hydrogen gases for the Drummond light, that made the 
Pepper experiment. We will now suppose a picture — let it be 
a shining one, such as a set piece of fireworks — and we want it 
to be seen a thousand miles away. The firework would cast 
its image toward a revolving disk with twenty holes in its outer 
part. The light coming through these disk-holes would strike 
an oxy-hydrogen light that would pulsate with the extra 
impressions of the disk-rays. All these pulsations are going 
over a telephone that is fitted to receive them, with a proper 
transmitter to exaggerate the impressions. At the other end of 
the telephone wire a similar disk is rotating by means of the 
same electric propulsion — that is, when a certain hole, say a, in 
disk No. i, goes past the top place in the disk's orbit, then hole 
a in disk No. 2, a thousand miles away, is at the same place in 
its circular path. Now the regular light vibrations are coming 



92 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

through the wire; on top of these vibrations are the extra 
vibrations received on the Drummond light from the light coming 
through the disk, and each of these light rays, being of all kinds 
of powers, has chosen a different route over the wire. The picture 
is now passing over the wire. The Drummond light is burning 
from gases that are regulated by the diaphragm of the telephone 
receiver — that is, the light is exactly duplicated a thousand 
miles away. Disk No. 2 revolves so as to catch the whole of 
the light. This varying light is caught by lens and reflector 
and thrown with all its vividness on a ground glass. Through 
the other side of the ground glass the human eye is able to see, 
in the center of the vivid background, the original picture or 
fireworks, that shone on the disk at No. 1. The picture has not 
passed, you say. Neither has your voice at the telephone 
passed. Certain pulsations caused by the voice have not been 
permitted to dissipate into nature so rapidly as they usually do. 
When man shall triumph over the electric difficulties of making 
two disks turn together, and two Drummond or electric lights 
burn together synchronously — that is at the same time — we 
shall see afar. We shall see fireworks, total eclipses that take 
place in Norway, operas, ballets, transformation scenes, great 
men, and distant relatives. Thousands of practical uses may 
evolve, undreamed of as yet. 




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What is the X Ray ? 

It is supposed, by Tesla, to be an unseen flow of matter, 
driven with high speed, through the interstices of other matter 
that is never very dense. It is supposed by others to be the 
movement of light rays in waves that are forward and back — 
that is, the waves move like a serpent's tongue. 

When was the X Ray discovered? 

On the 8th day of November, 1895, at the Physical Institute 
of the University of Wurzburg, a town of 45,000 inhabitants, 
in Bavaria, Germany, Dr. Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen (pro- 
nounced Renken) was studying the effects of an electric 
discharge through a glass tube from which the air had been 
withdrawn. He was in a dark room, and had covered the tube 
with a shield of black cardboard, through which not even the rays 
of the electric arc light would pass. At a point some few feet dis- 
tant,there lay a piece of barium platino-cyanide paper (sensitive 
paper). As the light of the electric discharge played in the 
covered tube he happened to notice a black line or shadow 
moving on the sensitive paper. If the light came from out- 
doors it must be shut out ; if the room were really dark, where 
did the light escape from the tube? Investigation proved that 
no light was coming either from the outside or from the tube 
through the cardboard. In a short time, Dr. Roentgen had 
learned that rays were flowing through the black cardboard — 
rays that would go through a book or a wall as well. 

93 



94 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



When did the world hear of it? 

At the December, 1895, meeting of the Wurzburg Physio- 
Medical Society,Dr. Roentgen made a full report. The news 
came to London by telegraph from Vienna, that the Wurzburg 




Fig. 41. DR. WILHELM KONRAD ROENTGEN. 

Professor had found a new kind of light. This was followed 
by mail advices, giving the discoverer's clear and remarkable 
report, and it is not unlikely that within four weeks the people 
of every civilized country in the world were experimenting with 
the X Ray, taking photographs of the bones of the human 
hand, and discovering the metallic contents of a pocket-book 
without opening it. 



THE X RAY. 95 

Tell me something of the earlier history of the X Ray. 

The X Ray was not possible without long-continued study of 
the subject of Fluorescence or Phosphorescence, Radiance and 
Induction, as we will here try to show you. In 1852, Professor 
Stokes inserted a buirs eye of blue (cobalt) glass in the wall of 
a dark room. Through this bull's eye a ray from the sun was 
admitted, making a feeble violet colored light. In front of the 
bull's eye he held a piece of canary glass (glass colored yel- 
owish green with oxide of uranium). This canary glass lit up 
brilliantly in the feeble light. Now he held, further away, but 
still in the track of the light, a piece of glass colored a brownish 
yellow with the oxide of gold, and this glass became trans- 
parent But if the Professor placed the gold glass before the 
uranium glass, the gold glass would not be transparent. In 
other words, the violet light of the bull's eye would not go 
through the gold glass until it had first passed through the 
uranium glass and certain preparation had been given to its 
rays. We all have seen the rainbow effects of a three-cornered 
piece of glass lit by the sun — the spectrum. It had long been 
known that light fell outside of the blue band of the rainbow. 
This unseen light would effect chemical changes. Therefore 
it was light, or at least energy, and it was called the ultra- 
violet (that is, beyond the violet) ray. It was, of course, 
thought that Roentgen had found a new property of the ultra- 
violet ray. Stokes, however, with his fluorescent glasses — or 
glasses that would store up light — made the ultra-violet rays 
visible under many different circumstances. All luminous paints 
are made of materials that store light rapidly and emit it very 
slowly. The variations of color in the same chemicals at differ- 
ent times and the color effects generally, were never explained. 

State again the general facts of the rainbow and Flu ores 
cence. 

The violet rays of the rainbow are the ones that cause th(< 
most chemical action — therefore these rays are called actinic, 
The yellow rays give the most light. The red rays give the 
most heat. Beyond the violet band of the rainbow arc the 
ultra-violet rays, ordinarily not visible. They vibrate faster and 



96 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



their waves are shorter, than the violet rays. But these ultra- 
violet rays, when passed through certain substances, become 
visible in a luminous state of that substance, and this luminosity 
is called Fluorescence. Now inasmuch as light is often desired 
without heat, the electricians have long sought to increase the 
vibrations of their machines in order to get a white light. 

Tell vie about intensity coils — Ruhmkorff* s y Testa's, etc. 
Who was Ruhmkorff? 

Heinrich D. Ruhmkorff invented the Ruhmkorff Intensity 
Coil in 1851. He died at Paris, December 21, 1877, He found 
that the most rapid movements could only be secured by wrap- 
ping one coil of wire over another. The currents were generated 
in the inner coil by Induction. The core of the coil was itself 
made of wires. A Dynamo sent its currents around the outer 
coil; the inner coil set up its own currents by Induction, and 
fed them into a condenser or Leyden jar; the Leyden jar 

discharged with increased velocity. 
Thus the Dynamo sent a current 
this way and that way around the 
small coil ten thousand times a 
second. This rapidity was multiplied 
beyond measure by the Leyden jar — 
up into the billions in a second. A 
feeble Leyden jar whose w r aves play 
only a few hundred times a second 
makes waves that are each twelve 
hundred miles long ; the shortest 
wave Tesla produced was thought to 
be seventy feet long. The wave 
needed to make white light is thought 
to be one fifty- thousandth of an inch 
long. Thus electric waves are still 
far in the rear of light waves. 

What of the glass tubes ? 

For centuries the scientists have 
used glass tubes for the study of 
gases. Thus if we compress air 




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Fig 42 
A FANCY GEISSLER TUBE. 



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J 



THE X RA Y. 97 

sufficiently, it becomes a fluid. This is usually shown in a 
hermetically sealed tube, and the fluid thus held will exhibit 
waves incomparably smaller and more sensitive to motion 
than the waves of water. Now what would be more natural 
than that Sir Humphrey Davy and the rest should put the arc 
light in a glass tube and exhaust the air, to see what the light 
would do in the tube ? The moment they did that much, they 
had a Crookes or a Lenard or a Geissler or a Hertz tube. 

Who is Professor Crookes ? 

William Crookes, of London, was a renowned scientist before 
the X Rays were found. He discovered the metal Thallium in 
1861, and invented the Radiometer in 1864. 

What is a Radiometer ? 

A vacuum bulb made of glass. Inside are paddle wheels or 
vanes. One side of the vanes is black, the other bright. Take 
the bulb out of a dark place into the light, and the vanes revolve 
on their shaft, the bright side always in front. We may call it 
a light-mill. 

What is Anode and Cathode ? 

The wire that ran into the tubes ended in various ways — with 
a ball, a point, or a concave mirror — and it was called the anode. 
It was the negative pole. The wire that ran out of the tube, 
beginning with point, or ball, or mirror, was called the cathode 
or kathode. Of course, if the current entered the other way, the 
kathode would become the anode. These points or balls might 
be as far apart as the tube was big; but when the current was 
turned on, the tube would show a stream of light passing from 
anode to kathode, often in zig-zag, serpentine, or other courses. 
Professor Crookes at last made the bulbs that gave the best 
effects, putting the anode and kathode at various places, and 
setting the kathode mirror so that there would be a reflection 
of the kathode light. Dr. Roentgen had placed an aluminium 
window in the Crookes tube, and found that the kathode rays 
would go through that, in a Fluorescent way, before he found 
the X Ray. 



98 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Was the light in the Crookes tube Fluorescence? 

Yes, it was so considered. You will probably make the 
comment that Edison's incandescent light is an outcome of the 
tube idea, and so it is. There the current of electricity is aided 
in its passage from the anode to the kathode of the bulb by 
means of the filament of carbon, and the incandescence of the 
filament gives the light. With the Geissler and Crookes tubes 
toys and decorations were made, that were admired in the store 
windows long before the days of the Roentgen ray, and the 
kathode rays, playing through the glass walls of the tube, were 
variously believed to receive changes in the glass, such as had 
taken place in Professor Stoke's canary glass. 

What proditced the X Ray ? 

First Davy got the arc light in the air. Then it was flashed 
in a tube without air. Then the electricians increased the breaks 
in the circuit from one hundred to say a hundred millions in a 
second. Then Stokes discovered that the rays of light could be 
changed or "doctored. " Then Stokes, Lenard and others made 
these rays go through aluminium. Then Roentgen, in doing this, 
discovered the presence of rays that are not ultra-violet because 
they cannot be produced outside of a tube, nor with low vibra- 
tions, nor with too much vacuum. 

What is the X Ray good for ? 

So far, it has been of great use in surgery, where the condi- 
tions of the bones of the hands or feet has been determined 
before the operation with knife. All bodies of medium density 
allow the X Ray to pass through them, and new ways of 
improving the value of the discovery are constantly found. 

How is the X Ray usually shown ? 

A photographic plate is put in its covered case. A cloth may 
be laid over the case. Any object — say the human foot, in boot 
and stocking — is set on the cloth and plate. The Crookes tube, 
of a pear shape, with its stream of Fluorescence to point toward 
the boot, is placed above the boot. The current is turned on 
the Ruhmkorff coil from the power-house or battery. The 



THE X RAY. 99 

current goes in the condenser and the swift alternations begin. 
The boot is bombarded for one hour or more with streams of 
invisible matter, and after the photographic plate is developed 
it shows the skeleton of the foot, but no vestige of leather, 
stocking, cloth, or plate-holder. Sometimes the photograph 
will show only the iron pegs of the sole of a boot, the leather 
having vanished. The world, for nearly a year, was unanimous 
in its expressions of astonishment, and probably no man since 
Columbus became so quickly famous as Dr. Roentgen. 

What did Edison do ? 

He at once set to work to make some practical use of the 
tubes and X Rays. He invented the Fluoroscope. This is a 
pyramidal box, (to be seen in the plate at the head of the 
chapter), with its small end covering the human eyes 3 and 
closing them in. At the large end of the pyramid is a bottom 
or screen, covered with calcium tungstate,or a still better fluor- 
escing material, the name of which Edison keeps secret. Thus 
the observer is practically in a dark room, before a screen, on 
which is a substance that, like phosphorus, will retain light rays, 
A man's chest is next placed before the screen. The Crookes 
and Ruhmkorff or Tesla apparatus is placed behind the man's 
chest, and the current is turned on. The X Rays develop and 
go through the man's chest, reaching the screen, where they 
turn into light on the Fluorescent surface. Then the observer 
can see the organs of the body in action, and can form theories 
as to the state of the lungs. Where bullets or needles are 
imbedded in small bones, the Fluoroscope instantly locates them 
as well as the photograph, although the surgeons use the photo- 
graph, so as to make no personal error. 

What else did Edison do ? 

He coated the inside of the Crookes tube with his Fluorescing 
material, and the rapid light from the wires caused it to shine 
with a white, diffusive, and almost cold effect ; so that, between 
Edison and Tesla together, it only remains to obtain a big 
Condenser that will discharge as suddenly as a little one to get 
pulsations that will light up the bulb with a white, cold light. 
L.ofC. 



100 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

What is Da vies bulb? 

It was made in March, 1896, under the direction of Professor 
Lodge. The anode wire with its platinum mirror was run out 
from a hollow ball made half of copper and half of aluminium. 
The electric charge went in by the wire leading to the anode. 
It leaped into the copper part of the ball. The air was pumped 
out of the ball. Thus we have a device somewhat like an open 
flower with a petal. The petal is the anode. The cup of the 
flower is the cathode. A cap of aluminium fits on the cup. The 
air is taken out. The charge of electricity comes up the inside 
of the stem into the petal. It goes down the outside, out of the 
cup. 

What were the results ? 

This opaque bulb was set going at one side of the laboratory. 
Sixty-two feet away, a screen of thirty-six square inches was 
covered with a Fluorescing mixture of potassium platino-cyanide. 
Midway across the space three feet of timber were interposed. 
When the X Rays began pouring out of the metal bulb, they 
penetrated the three feet of timber, and the screen sixty-two 
feet away lit up. The hand interposed, made no shadow on the 
screen, so strong were the rays. This stream of force was 
thrown out of a dark metal ball. 

What has been done with blind people ? 

Blind scientists have been brought to experience new sensa- 
tions through theX Rays. The object seen appears to be in the 
brain itself, as the senses have no measure of distance. Edison 
has made many experiments with blind subjects. 

Has harm resulted from the X Rays ? 

Yes. It is found that the rays have an irritating influence on 
the skin, and serious inflammation has resulted from exposure 
to the force. 

Describe Edison's X Ray Lamp, as it is popularly called. 

The glass tube is made like an egg on a glass standard, so 
that the "egg" sits on the stem crosswise. The wires enter the 
"egg" at each end. One of the wires holds a mirror-disk that 
throws rays upward. The other wire has no disk or mirror 



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THE X RA Y. 101 

The inside of the glass is coated with the Fluorescing material, 
and this has been fused into the glass. No X Rays pass beyond 
the glass in this tube, and Edison believes that their rapid waves 




Fig. 44. EDISON'S X RAY LAMP. 

cause the white cold light that sets up in the glass. There is 
but a small expenditure of power, and the economy is nine- 
tenths as compared with the incandescent light. That is, when 
apparatus can be as cheaply applied to the Fluorescent light as 
it is to the arc light, the Fluorescent light will cost only one- 
tenth as much, and. will give out almost no heat at all. 

For what is Tesla celebrated? (See page 79.) 
For his inventions looking to the breaking and reversal of 
circuits, whereby these rapid movements can be secured. He is 
deemed the greatest of all the inventors of vibratory apparatus 
or oscillators. He was once a workman in Edison's laboratory. 
With his high frequencies he expects to project Kathode rays in 
the air from power-houses to lamps at great distances. That is, 
matter will be projected with force to Fluorescing substances 
stationed miles from the power-house, and they will become 
luminous without heat, as phosphorus is at night — or the glow- 



102 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

worm. Thus the fire-fly and the decaying stump have at last 
taught their lesson to man. 

Is a comet Fluorescent ? 

Professor Crookes claimed a fourth state of matter — radiant 
matter — the other three conditions being solids, liquids and gases. 
There are certain aspects of great comets which could be 
theorized on the line of a radiant discharge from the celestial 
ether into the head of the comet. The tail of the comet 
precedes the comet when it goes out away from the sun, and stars 
are always seen through the tail. Whether or not such a comet 
as that of 1882, whose tail extended half way across the morning 
sky, is a flying kathode receiving the Fluorescent streams of a 
solar system, can be better determined after the spectra of all 
earthly forms of Radiance have been compiled and compared. 

U hat was Marconi's discovery ? 

William Marconi, an Italian, discovered that electric vibra- 
tions caused by an oscillator passed through a hill. Subsequent 
experiments showed that signals apparently could be sent 
through blocks of buildings in London to a distance of three 
hundred feet, passing seven or eight walls. 

What great things did Marconi soon do? 

From the moment of Dr. Roentgen's astonishing discovery 
Marconi wrought with untiring industry and gratifying success to 
complete his system of aerography — of telegraphing through 
air. He sent messages that way entirely across the English 
Channel. He perfected apparatus which was put aboard steam- 
ships and battleships, and Atlantic liners communicated with 
each other when 200 miles apart on the ocean, conveying valua- 
ble information. It began to be generally understood, through 
the success of these proceedings, that thought-transference, from 
brain to brain by vibrations not yet understood, or even theor- 
ized, are not beyond the realm of human action. Marconi set up 
receiving-stations at St. John's, on the coast of Newfoundland, 
and declared that he twenty times received the three dots that 
made the Morse telegraphic letter s, as sent from his sending- 



THE X RA Y. 103 

station at Poldhu, Cornwall, at the southwest tip of England. 
So profoundly did this announcement affect the commercial and 
financial world that the cable companies, through their of&cers, 
at once ordered Marconi to cease experimenting on the earth, 
which it seemed to them they owned so far as ocean telegraphy 
was concerned. The Canadian government, however, took a 
highly enlightened view of the inventor's efforts, and high honors 
were shown him while he was on the coasts of the Dominion in 
1902. 

What is peculiar about Marconi's apparatus ? 

Both sending and receiving instruments are placed at great 
heights, and it is believed or known that the vibrations or im- 
pulses that are sent out follow the curvature of the earth. Like 
the multiplex-buzzes, the receiving apparatus can be made to 
respond only to one "sender," and a "sender" may put out im- 
pulses which will be caught by one receiver alone, or by all 
receivers within the sphere of influence.* 

Does the world still gratefully remember Dr. Roentgen ? 

Yes. One of the first of the rich Nobel (see page 253) prizes 
was awarded to Dr. Roentgen early in 1902. This action was 
intended to distinguish him as one of the greatest living benefac- 
tors of his race. The scientists still say " Roentgen rays" and 
use the terms "Roentgenize," "Roentgenism," etc. 

What is Bell's Radiophone or Photophone ? 

It is a union of X Rays, search light and telephone. We have 
seen that Fresnel and others learned how to project light so that 
it would not disperse sidewise or laterally. It is now believed 
that a ray or a volume of light could be sent around the world 
if the volume were caught at intervals and corrected to the cur- 

*The feeble ether-waves are made recognizable in somewhat the same or similar way thai 
the semaphore operates in the Block-Signal (page 100.) A slight molecular action ol silver 
and nickel (in the "coherer") enables a waiting current of electricitv to pass through and 
give audible expression to the far more occult action of Marconi's mystical forces. Because 
the particles of silver and nickel cohere as the Marconi waves ol ether strike the particles, 
thus making a bridge for the waiting electricity, the instrument was called a "coherer" bj 
Calzecchi, who invented it, and the name was retained by Branley, who improved it. In the 
Block-Signal, however, a feeble current ol electricity acts as the trigger for the compressed- 
air force. In the "coherer" a feeble ether-action, unseen and unheard, nol detectable e\ 
cept by the ever-watchful force ol electricity, acts as the trigger, and allows the electricity to 
make the sounds or motions that can be heard or recognized. 



104 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



vature of the earth — that is, a row of search lights fifty miles 
apart would need only one electric light in order to throw a 
shaft of light around the world. 

Hozu did Bell find that light would carry sound ? 

By means of a cell of selenium, a costly metal, (one of the 
elements — see Chemistry.) When a ray of light fell on the 
metal, a telephone connected with the metal gave out a sound. 




Fig. 45. BELL'S RADIOPHONE. 

Afterward he found that lampblack was as good as selenium. 
The ray of light from a mirror strikes the selenium. A wire 
leads out of the selenium into a telephone. Now if the mirror 
is on the other side of a diaphragm or disk, against which a man 
is talking, the rays from the mirror carry the tone and words 
of his voice, and this has been done at a distance of a mile and 
a half. Furthermore, it is the X Rays that carry the voice, for 
matter may be placed in the line of the ray, apparently cutting 
off communication, and yet the voice will be heard just as well. 
An india rubber disk failed to stop a message. The light must 
be steady. 



TTTTT 










SL Compresseb Hit. j^ 




What was the first pneumatic invention to attract general 
attention in America ? 

The Westinghouse Air-Brake, by which the locomotive 
engineer could apply all the brakes of a railway train. This 
machine was invented and improved by Mr. Westinghouse, and, 
after twenty years, was generally adopted by the railway men of 
the world. In the center beneath each car is a cylinder, with a 
piston extending from each end of the cylinder. Air goes in, the 
pistons go out, the brakes are applied, the air is let out of the 
cylinder and springs throw the pistons back, ready for another 
application. A secondary cylinder of Compressed Air is always 
ready, close by, to give instantaneous force to the pistons. Taking 
the pressure off the hose or pipe that goes to the locomotive 
from the brake lets the air out of the secondary cylinder and 
applies the brakes, so if the train severs itself the brakes apply 
themselves. Therefore the device is called and is at times 
an Automatic Brake. The series of cylinders and brakes are all 
connected through a "triple valve," on one pipe that reaches 
an air-tank on the locomotive. The air-tank is filled by a little 
steam-engine on the locomotive, which you very often see going 
while the locomotive is standing at the station. Air-brakes are 
used on electric railways and the pump is operated by a separate 
motor. A dial in front of the motor-man records the air pressure. 

What is the Pneumatic Tube ? 

An ingenious and useful system in operation in populous 
cities, and in large establishments elsewhere. By this method, 

1Q5 



106 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



small packages are almost instantly conveyed over considerable 
distances. A system of brass tubes with no right angles under- 
lies the streets. The central station is usually at the main 
telegraph office. Here a row of closed glass cases guards the 
entrances to the various tubes. The name of the newspaper or 
other establishment to which the particular tube leads is on the 
case. The pouch which is to pass through the tube is a cylinder 
made of leather, and is less than a foot long. The telegrams or 
letters are inclosed in this pouch, the pouch is set on end in a 
movable pneumatic car, and the car is pressed forward into the 
Pneumatic Field, which leads to the tube. As the pouch reaches 
the tube it is sucked or driven in, and a few seconds later is at 
the newspaper office. Communication between any two offices 
can thus be made very rapid if a trusty servant operates the 
central station, where a change must be made. Systems well 
worthy of the name were in operation in 1897, in Philadelphia, 
New York and Chicago. The Philadelphia tubes are six and a 
half inches in diameter. 

What is the Electro-Pneumatic Block Signal ? 

The railroad is divided into (t blocks," or sections, and no 
train is permitted to enter a block in which there is a train. If 
there is a train in the next block, a red light, or an out-stretched 
wooden arm or semaphore, warns the engineer or motor man, 
and he must come to a stop till the red light changes to green, 
or the wooden arm falls. Air-compressing engines are situated 
at the railroad shops, and a large storage tank stands near by. 
From this tank a large supply-pipe runs the whole length of the 
track. Branch-pipes, with valves, lead to the semaphores. A 
section of track is electrically wired together and a well-battery 
is sunk in the ground at each block. The current goes up one 
rail to the end of the block and returns to the battery on the 
other rail — that is when there is no train on the track. When 
there is a train, the current crosses through the train and gets 
back to the battery the shortest way. At the semaphore is a 
compressed-air cylinder, like the Westinghouse. This com- 
pressed-air cylinder is operated by electro-magnets and springs 
that are released by electricity from additional batteries. When 



COMPRESSED AIR. 107 

the batteries are operating, the arms are pulled down, and all is 
well. When they cease to operate, or when a train comes on the 
block and the track current is shortened, a weight carries the 
arm of the semaphore outward, so that it commands the follow- 
ing engineer to stop. Sometimes two semaphores on one post 
show the condition not only of the block just ahead, but of the 
block beyond that. The top one is red, the lower one green. 
All this action is automatic. If the signal does not change in so 
many minutes the engineer may proceed with caution. 

Where is the leading Compressed-Air power-house? 

At Paris. There Victor Popp has for many years furnished 
power for pneumatic clocks, of which there are at present about 
two thousand in the city. About ten thousand horse-power of 
energy is generated at these works. Power is furnished to 
refrigerating establishments, street-cars, dynamos, and other 
machinery. Pipes are laid under the streets and Compressed 
Air is measured to the customer by a meter, like gas. 

How is air compressed at such a pozver-house ? 

By a steam cylinder and a piston which unites the chest for the 
Compressed Air with the steam cylinder, one rod acting as a 




Fig. 47. THE RAND DIRECT-ACTING AIR-COMPRESSOR. 

piston in both of the cylinders. A pipe leads from the air- 
chest to the storage-tank. Service pipes lead from the tank into 
the streets of the city. The pressure is about seventy-five pounds 
to the square inch. 

Where has Compressed Air taken the first place as a motive 
power ? 

In the mines of America. The Hydraulic Power Company of 
Michigan, sends air in pipes from the Ouinnesec Falls to Iron 



108 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Mountain, to drive all the machinery of the Chapin and Luding- 
ton iron mines. 

What is the Compressed-Air Rock-Drill? 

It is a small machine that is braced against an adjustable iron 
column which binds against the walls of the shaft or tunnel in 
which the rock is to be removed. The air hose may lead down 




Fig. 48. ROCK DRILLING WITH COMPRESSED-AIR. 



the mine three-quarters of a mile or more. By means of this 
Drill holes are rapidly bored, and when enough are made the 
blast is set off. No other form of power has equaled Compressed 
Air for these subterranean purposes. The great Sanitary Canal, 
from Chicago to the Illinois River, has been cut through miles 
of lime stone by means of the Compressed-Air Rock-Drill. The 
steel drill is revolved by machinery, as air and steam will w f ork 
in the same way ; but air has the advantage that it will not 



COMPRESSED AIR. 109 

condense into water as steam must do when it is below two 
hundred and twelve degrees of temperature. 

What is the Compressed-Air Painting Machine ? 

It was invented by C. Y. Turner, for use at the World's Fair 
of 1893. Some of the building's were so large that they could not 
have been painted by hand in the time required. The paint was 
put in tubs. The Compressed Air drew the paint into a hose and 
drove the paint through an atomizer with such force that the 
paint was put on and into the wood better than it could be done 
by hand, and with astonishing results economically. The 
machine moved on wheels. Since the World's Fair, the steel 
works have employed this device for painting railroad bridges 
and building material. 

What is the Compressed-Air Calker? 

It is a machine, used notably in the Cramp Ship Yards at 
Philadelphia, where armored cruisers are made for the United 
States Government. All the calking of war-ships is done by 
such machinery, and one calker does the work of four men. It 
strikes four thousand blows a minute. A nearly similar machine 
is used by the stone and marble cutters. The engine is in the 
handle of the tool. 

What is the Car-Cleaner ? 

Merely a hose and nozzle. But by this simple means it is 
found that the dust inseparable from a railway journey behind a 
steam engine can best be eliminated from cushions, carpets and 
corners. It is rapidly displacing other methods of cleaning on 
all the railroads. 

How does a Compressed-Air Locomotive look ? 

Very large and cumbersome, more like a double oil tank-car 
than anything else. The steam-chests and drive-wheels,however, 
copy those of an ordinary locomotive. In France, between 
Par/.s and Nogent on the Marne River, they are charged for five 
mile trips and re-charged every mile and a half. A similar rail- 
way is running at Berne, Switzerland. 

What is tlie Asphalt-Refiner ? 

Asphalt, for street-pavements,comes from Trinidad in a crude 



HO THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

state. It must be boiled and well stirred. A cauldron like a 
soap-boiler is lined with pipes, but instead of steam alone, they 
also carry Compressed Air, which is sprayed from holes in the 
pipes. After three days' boiling, the mass has become homo- 
geneous, and will harden properly for use on the streets, where 
it makes the best pavement that has yet been devised for city use. 

What is the Air- Gun ? 

It was at first an exhibition-affair, shooting a feathered shaft, 
for pleasure-seekers at fairs. It had its beginning in the child's 
pop-gun. It is at last a great pneumatic cannon, invented by 
Lieutenant Zalinski, which throws a torpedo two miles and a 
half from a steel tube sixty feet long. High explosives cannot be 
projected with ordinary gunpowder, because they will not 
themselves endure the great initiatory shock. By the aid of 
Compressed Air, the projecting force increases with the journey 
of the projectile toward the muzzle of the cannon. It is 
understood, however, that powder will eventually displace the 
Compressed Air. 

What is Wood-Pulp Silk? 

A fabric woven in France. The wood pulp is chemically 
treated until it has become a gelatinous substance. It is then 
inclosed in a tank to which Compressed Air is introduced. This 
tank forces the pulp through a filter and into a second tank, out 
of which lead hundreds of glass pipes, whose tubes are each no 
larger than a silken fibre. The pulp issues from these holes in 
a thread, and six threads are woven into a strand of the silk. 
(See Silk, in Clothes.) 

What is the Coal-Dump? 

By this device, one man can feed coal to a battery of steam 
boilers however large. The cars are loaded, sent to their 
journey's end, dumped into automatic feeders, and returned for 
another load, all by the turning of a valve by a man who may 
retain his seat in a chair. The automatic chain feeders are 
displacing coal-shovelers in the furnace-rooms of the ocean 
steamships. Cars on the Sanitary Canal were dumped by air- 
pistons. 



COMPRESSED AIR. \\\ 

How Does Compressed Air rival Electricity ? 

In the convenience with which it may be transmitted. It is 
more safe. It is more easily understood, and does not arouse 
the fear and prejudice of the human race. It can be installed 
as the means by which every part of the work of a great factory 
may be carried on, as at a large machine shop in St. Louis, 
where a twenty-ton crane is moved. Shafting and bands are 
abolished, and each considerable machine has its own motor, fed 
by a hose. Water supplies for cities may be aerated, as at Little 
Rock, Ark. The pneumatic tire, on the bicycle, has brought 
the subject home to the people, and we have shown that the 
Council of Experts, at London, hesitated between Electricity 
and Air as the proper vehicle to use in transferring the power 
taken from the turbine wheels at Niagara Falls. 

What is the Automatic Ash-Dump ? 

A contrivance for removing the ashes of locomotives. The 
locomotive moves over a pit in which cars run on rails. Each 
car carries an ash-pan. The ashes are dropped into the pan. 
The little car carries the ash-pan under a frame work on which 
is a trolley. A compressed-air piston hanging to this trolley 
reaches down and seizes the ash-pan, drawing it up into the air. 
Another compressed-air piston pushes the perpendicular piston 
and its load along the trolley, over the ash-train. A spring 
opens the bottom of the ash-pan, and its ashes fall into the ash- 
train. 



TOTTT **T^r*i? 

***** _^ . __- ***** 

x Breab t Etc* as 



* 




A Bread the commonest of food? 

Yes, and it is ancient beyond the scope of history. In the 
earliest poems of the Bible the maidens are represented as sitting 
with mill-stones on their laps. In the English of England 
wheat is called corn — that is corn means grain, and the people 
apply the term to the leading grain of their region. Thus the 
Scotchman calfs oats corn. The settler in America, finding that 
Indian maize was seemingly best fitted to this climate, called 
maize corn. English settlers in Egypt and India have called 
rice corn, on the same principle. In reading the foreign press 
and dispatches, and the Bible, it must be remembered that corn 
nearly always means wheat. This grain, as we see it today, was 
as well known to the Pharaohs of the early dynasties, and wheat 
that had been inclosed in tombs for five thousand years was 
sown in the Botanical Gardens of Bath, England, in 1842, and 
grew fifteen or twenty bearded ears on each root. 

How was Wheat ground into flour ? 

First by lap stones, then by revolving mills on larger stones ; 
then the revolving stone was run by machinery. For ages, and 
until the 'seventies, the revolving stones, called buhrs, generally 
operated by water-wheels, were the means of making all the 
flour that was used by civilization. In 1877, the roller process 
was copied in America from European mills, where it had been 
recently invented, and the old-time mill by the stream, with its 
rumbling shafts and stones, began to pass away. 

Describe the modem process. 

Wheat from the car or vessel goes at once to the top of the 

8-113 



114 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

mill. When it reaches the ground again it is in the form of 
Patent or best-grade flour, screenings, "offal," that is, bran and 
shorts, "clear " Flour, and first and second grade flour. The 
same bushel of wheat has produced these results, but the various 
grades of wheat have been through different series of machines. 
From the bin at the top of the mill the wheat falls past a blast 
of air, which carries away chaff and light dirt; next it strikes 
three sieves that catch the grains of corn, oats and rye. At a 
fourth sieve the wheat grains are themselves too large to go 
through, and they are thus separated from small seeds and pieces 
of dirt. But there is one seed that stays with the wheat despite 
all sieves, and that is cockle. So a drum was invented, and in 
this drum there are indentations the size of a cockle and too 
small for wheat. As the drum goes around, with wheat in it, 
the cockle fall into the little holes and are carried upward; as 
they pass overhead they fall on a catch-board in the drum. The 
drum slants and the wheat slides through slowly. Next, the 
wheat passes through a drum in which a wire brush revolves 
with high speed, creating also a strong air-blast. This process 
takes away all fuzz from the kernel, and even wipes out the 
crease, leaving it clean. As the stream of wheat leaves this 
drum it pours over an electro-magnet,which attracts all particles 
of iron, such as wire, or harvester and thrasher belongings. 

Is it now clean? 

Yes, and that is the main difference between the old and the 
new methods. The clean wheat is now to pass through grooved 
iron rollers, one of which goes faster than the other. The lines 
or strings on these rollers are like those on a screw, and the 
wheat is broken lengthwise. The first set of rollers is compara- 
tively coarse and set far apart ; the series progresses in fineness. 
A very little " break flour " results, of a cheap grade. Next we 
come to the centrifugal machines, so when you hear of 
centrifugal Flour you may know the source of the term. The 
crushed wheat goes to the centrifugals to be " scalped. " The 
wheat is poured on these reels, and they, by rapidly revolving 
dash it away from their centers, casting it against wire screens 
and silk gauze, and grading it according to the size of the mesh 



BREAD, ETC. 115 

through which it escaped. It is now middlings. A German 
machine called a plane-sifter, by eccentric motion and jarring, 
does the same work with less force. 

What is the Middlings Purifier ? 

It is a blast of air. Before that blast the streams of variously 
graded middlings pass, and the bran is blown into its own 
receptacle. The process now begins all over again from the 
rollers or crushers, and is repeated until there have been five 
operations. The flour then goes into barrels or sacks. The 
bran, however, after getting into the air blast, is passed through 
o. machine which brushes it in search of flour. 

I have heard of mill explosions. What are they ? 

There was an explosive force in the flour dust, either when 
lighted by a flame, or under certain kinetic (or moving) circum- 
stances. It is believed that the modern ventilating fan, by 
revolving, draws this dust from the air in sufficient quantity to 
render the repetition of these calamities impossible. The flour 
is collected in a chamber, and is sold as a cheap grade — a 
warning to the buyer who values his health. 

Has flour or middlings eo7ne to be used for other purposes ? 

Yes. The iron foundries of a large city use about two 
hundred barrels daily for mixture with sand in moulding. In 
years of scarcity in the corn crop, wheat is fed in prodigious 
quantities to animals. In the corn-famine of 1894, the Govern- 
ment Bureau estimated a consumption of eighty million bushels 
for this purpose. In a large city about sixty barrels are daily 
made into paste. The bread and pastry bakeries use more flour 
each day than the city households, and five hundred barrels a 
day are made into crackers. China is now buying our flour. 
The meat-packing industries of America do not approach the 
value of the milling industries by $80,000,000 a year. 

What is Yeast ? 

Foam, froth, spume. Shakespeare speaks of the yeasty ocean. 
Yeast is described by the chemists as "an insoluble substance 
forming an essential component of all sacchariferous juices 



i in 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 



when in the state of vinous fermentation. " Again, yeast is a 
substance which is added to the dough of bread. If allowed 
time, it will produce alcohol and carbonic acid from the actual 
or possible sugar present in the dough — for starch is capable of 
turning into sugar. The flour is made up of starch and gluten. 
The gluten forms a sack or cyst or hollow ball in which the 
carbonic acid gas is held, and as these cysts swell, the bread 
grows lighter. In the earliest historical times the yeasting princi- 
ple had been applied to dough, by keeping over wet yeast from 
baking to baking. But doubtless the feast of unleavened bread, 
when the Jews were compelled to destroy all leaven, was 
instituted in order to secure new and purer yeast. This hold- 
over yeast is called leaven, but is yeast. The Germans were the 
first to make the ferment, reduce ic to a paste, mix it with starch 
to still further dry it, compress it, and put it on the market in 
cakes. Next the process went to Scotland, and is now general 
in the United States, although many men and women are 
inclined to believe that the old hop-raisings, which were kept 
wet in an earthen vessel, produced more highly satisfactory 
results. 

What is Vienna Bread? 

We may group as "Vienna" or "French Bread" all loaves 
that aim to give a maximum of crust, and to throw a quick 

crust around themselves as 
they enter a brick oven. 
As the loaf goes on the 
bricks or soapstone, it is 
called " bottom" bread by 
the bakers. The long slim 
loaves are wrapped in can- 
vas bagging while they 
await the oven. Then they 
are unwrapped and placed 
on the baker's "peel" or 
paddle, where the baker 
gives them the three slits with a razor, and paints the tops with 
a corn-starch liquid which gives the loaf its reddish tint. Steam 




Fig. 50. KUXI'S APPARATUS FOR TESTING 
THE BAKING VALUE OF FLOUR. 



BREAD, ETC. 117 

is admitted into the oven. The steam gives a thick crust, which 
holds in the gases, leaving them to escape only at the slits, and 
the way to know a good loaf of Vienna is to see that the baker's 
slits did not heal in the oven, but remained broken open by the 
escaping ^as. 

Is there anything peculiar about a baker's brick oven ? 

Yes. It is circular in shape and about fifteen feet in diameter. 
The bottom is made of soapstone, and is a circular disk, moving 
on its center by machinery. It holds about three hundred and 
fifty ordinary baker's loaves in pans, and these loaves are baked 
by being carried around slowly over the fire for half an hour. 
Each bakery makes from fifteen to twenty different kinds of pan 
bread, but there is little variance in the dough, which is kneaded 
by machinery. The wagons carry out the bread about three 
o'clock in the morning, and return with the unsold loaves of the 
day before, which are sold at the bakery to thrifty people for 
two cents a loaf. 

What other grain is used very largely for bread in America ? 

Corn. It is ground into meal, and this meal is used as a 
" bread-timber " through vast areas of the country. There is 
no yeasting process. The bread is often improved by the intro- 
duction of one-third wheat flour and some baking powder. 
Corn contains a fair amount of gluten and more vegetable fat 
than any other familiar grain. It is a heating food. For 
pan-cakes, or hoe-cakes as they are often called, corn seems 
especially well fitted, and even in the cities of the North, at the 
modern lunch-counters corn cakes make a large item in the 
day's business. Corn " gems " or buns are also popular. Mush 
and milk, or pudding and milk, made by stirring sifted corn 
meal in boiling water and serving hot in bowls of milk, offers 
one of the healthiest of foods where the bad effects of little or 
no exercise are felt. Mush and milk are remarkable for satisfy- 
ing the appetite quickly, but for only a short time. Green corn 
is canned in vast quantities. The corn crop of America is its 
principal production, and it is said of it that not five per cent, of 
it leaves county lines. The crop has run over two billion 
bushels for two years at a time. Corn is the principal crop of 



118 



THE FI RESiDE UNIVERSITY. 



Mexico, and may almost be called the standard of value thei„, 
for nearly all mining enterprises depend for their cost on tne 
yield of corn in Mexico during the period in which the labor is 
done. 

What is hominy ? 

The word is a corruption of the Indian atikuminea, (parched 
corn). It is hulled corn. Dry corn is boiled in lye until the 
hull is eaten off, and the eyes begin to come out. It is then 
washed several times in cold water, and boiled in water with 
salt. It is eaten in milk or fried with pork gravy. u Hog and 
hominy " are twin dishes in the Southern States. 

What is corn-oil? 

It is pressed out of the germs or hearts of corn at the glucose 
factories. It is used as a salad oil, and is sold to soap makers 
and paint mixers. 

What is corn-oil cake ? 

It is the residue of the corn germs or hearts after pressure in 
which the corn oil is secured. It is exported to Europe. 

What is gluten, as sold on the market? 

It is the residue of corn after the germs and the starch have 
gone from it. It is pressed into wet cakes, dried, powdered, 
and sold for cattle feed at a good price. It is a gray or yellow- 
ish coarse meal or flour. 

Is Rye also used for bread ? 

Yes, more and more, as Europeans have immigrated to 
America. Rye forms the great crop of Russia, over 700,000,000 
bushels being harvested in a year. The rye loaf is very dense 
and damp. It is sweet and does not grow stale as quickly as 
wheat bread. For this reason it is prized by German saloon- 
keepers, and others who deal in free lunches. Many persons of 
foreign birth like aromatic seeds in the rye loaf. Rye grows 
taller than wheat, and the farmer often goes through his field 
before harvest, cutting off the tall heads, that ripen a little later 
than the wheat. The kernel is long, slim and dark. It does 
not present that edible appearance which is characteristic of the 
wheat berry. A large part of the American crop is used in the 



BREAD, ETC. 



119 



distillation of whiskey, and this brand of liquor is held in high 
esteem by druggists. 

Is any other grain largely eaten in America by all classes of 
people ? 

Oat-meal, or rolled oats, or prepared oats may be considered 
a growing staple breakfast food — at least in all large cities. 
The kernel has been divested of its husk and partly broken. It 
is put in water and boiled as glue is boiled, with one vessel 
inside another, the outer vessel containing boiling water. The 
paste thus prepared, is eaten with sugar and milk or cream. 
Children readily use this food, and doctors have favored it. In 
Scotland, oat cakes are eaten very generally. 

What is Rice ? 

The seed or grain of a grass 
called Oryza sativa — possi- 
bly the wheat of the ancients. 
It forms the chief article of 
food for one - third of the 
human race, and is fermented 
into the leading liquor — saki 
(sah-kee) — of Japan and the 
arrack and shou-choo of the 
East. 

Where is it grown ? 

Rice is raised (as we raise 
wheat and corn) in China, 

Fig. 51. THE RICE PLANT. T ,. T ~. , T7~,^f 

B India, Japan, Ceylon, bgypt, 

Italy, Spain and the Southern States of North America. It 
must be sowed in a muddy or flooded soil, and is often trans- 
planted to drier ground. In the Southern States, where 
the best rice of the world's crop is raised, the seed is drilled 
in, as in a wheat-field, and the field is flooded to the depth 
of several inches. Then the water is 
on, the water is let in again to kill weeds, 
nigh the field is flooded once more. 




drawn off. Later 
When the harvest is 




ti. 



BREAD, ETC, 



121 



What peculiarities has Rice as a food? 

It exceeds all other grains in the proportion of its fat-forminp- 
and heat-giving elements, and is adapted to the needs of the 
people in hot climates. 

How is Rice used in Northern climates ? 

It is good for puddings and is put in soups. A favorite table 
use of rice is to serve it in place of potatoes with stewed chicken 




Fig. 53. TRANS-PLANTING RICE. 



or any stew that furnishes a large amount of sauce. Rice may 
be eaten by invalids after serious illness in the intestinal tract, 
but it cannot be said that it plays an important part in the 
households of the American people, except in the Gulf States. 

Give me some idea of the effect of climate on the cereal crops 
and tJieir tcse. 

We find oats and barley growing in the far north, like Canada, 
Scotland and Norway. In those countries the cakes and por- 
ridges to be made from these grains are sought and relished from 
habit and heredity. The next great crop going southward is 
rye, which as we have shown is a real competitor with wheat for 
the favor of half the Christian world. When we arrive in 



12? THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

climates where it is hot in July and August, wheat is the staff of 
life, and it grows by special care in many other regions, for 
there is a wheat harvest somewhere every day in the year. In 
the hot dry regions, corn is king. It was first called Turkish 
wheat, and was not originally found in America. When the 
climate becomes both hot and wet, rice and millet become the 
chief care of the people, for it is there they must obtain their 
farinaceous food. Rice is like oats, but is what we would call a 
water grass, or at least it must start in water. The impressions 
of Northern people regarding rice are borne out by scientific 
analysis, for rice is found to contain little gluten or sugar, the 
principal parts of bread. 

What is Millet? 

It is a grass seed filled with gluten, and is the smallest of the 
cereals raised for food. It is called Dhurra in Asia, and forms 
the chief breadstuff in Central India, Arabia and many parts 
of Africa, but is gradually being displaced by wheat in India. 
In the Northern States of America it is heard of only in the hay 
market. 

What other great food is borne on the stems of plants ? 

The banana or plantain. If we take all kind of bananas they 
may perhaps be claimed to be the leading food of the world, and 
it is said that they offer sustenance to 800,000,000 people. The 
consumption of bananas in America has grown enormously of 
late years, since their nutritious value was proved by invalids 
and children. Were the cost of transportation and distribution 
less, their use would be vastly increased. Where parents desire 
to feed bananas regularly to children that are not eating well, 
the cost of a dollar or more for a bunch or limb makes the ban- 
ana more a medicine than a food. The city parks usually keep 
banana trees in their conservatories, where the big plantain may 
be seen, with its bunches of bananas hanging with the bananas 
pointing upward in a very uncomfortable posture, to those 
observers who are used to seeing bananas only in warehouses or 
fruit stalls, hanging the other way. The bananas we get are all 
plucked very green, and ripen on the way or in the warehouse. 
The red bananas that look so luscious are in reality less palatable 






BREAD. ETC, 123 

than the white or yellow ones. Gluten and starch are the main 
ingredients, and when the banana is fully ripe the starch has 
become sugar. In hot countries, the principal eating is done 
early, and bananas should not be consumed at night. 

Is Barley used largely as food ? 

Not in America. Barley cakes are eaten abroad. The hotels 
and restaurants serve it in soups. The American crop is about 
sixty million bushels, and the world's crop is nine hundred 
million bushels, so we may get some idea of the world's taste 
for beer, as the main part of this yield goes to the top floors of 
the breweries. 

What is Sago ? 

It is the starch of the sago palm, and is derived from the 
pith. The sago palm grows in Africa and the East Indies. One 
tree often yields five hundred pounds of commercial sago. The 
logs are split and the pith is taken out. This is pounded in 
water, and the starch settles on the bottom. After several 
washings, the paste is strained into small grains. Its use is for a 
dessert pudding. After soaking all night in water, milk, eggs, 
salt, sugar, and flavoring extract are added, and the vessel is 
placed in an oven where the sago is baked slowly and served hot 
or cold, with or without cream or milk. 

What is Tapioca ? 

It is a starch which is used in the same way as sago in the 
United States. It is from the same plant as cassava, which 
grows in South America, the West Indies and Africa, and is 
called the Brazilian Arrow-Root, or Manioc — the Jatropha 
manihot, a native of Brazil. The roots are peeled and reduced 
to a pulp. The prussic acid is squeezed out or evaporated and a 
powder free from poison is secured. Cassava bread is made 
from this powder, forming an important article of food to the 
negroes. Tapioca is the starch of the powder, dried on hot 
plates, and self-formed into the little granular masses that 
never entirely depart from the food. Tapioca pudding may be 
prepared like sago, or it may be made with milk instead of 
water. Apples are often added, and sometimes slices of orange. 
It may be eaten with cream. Good tapioca pudding is not 




2 



BREAD, ETC, 125 

easily made, as the masses or granules require skillful treatment 
or they will remain heavy to the taste. 
What are Spaghetti and Vermicelli ? 

They are two sizes of Macaroni — flour tubes that form the 
favorite food of the Italians and have come to be regarded with 
high favor in French and American restaurants. Usually the 
size is Vermicelli (worm size.) This is boiled, and served with 
tomato sauce and grated cheese — Parmesan cheese (from Parma) 
most often. Factories have been established in America, where 
Macaroni is made both in the old and the new way. Hard white 
Minnesota or Northern wheat is bought, washed and dried. 
Then it is cracked and polished into what is called "semolino." 
fn the modern factory a hundred pounds of the semolino are 
put in an iron mixer, which has a shaft from which project 
round steel bars. Hot water is added, and the broken wheat is 
worked into a dough, which grows stiff slowly. Next the dough 
goes under the rolling machine, which is a granite wheel 
weighing several tons. This wheel goes around in a circle, 
traveling over the dough. This is a rolling-pin on a large scale. 
It leaves the dough in a shining condition. The kneading 
machine comes next. Here the bed goes around, and the 
dough thus passes under conical cog-wheels, that serve as 
knuckles. This lasts half an hour, and the dough is ready for 
the cylinder press. This is a steel box like a locomotive's steam- 
chest. A piston comes down on the dough with a heavy pres- 
sure. In the bottom of this cylinder are holes the size of the 
Macaroni wanted. In the holes are cores held by pins. The 
dough passes these pins and joins its sides afterwards, so that 
though it does not come out of a ring it still presents itself as a 
tube. The Macaroni as it hangs from the cylinder, is cut in 
lengths of ten feet, carried to the cutting table, cut again to box 
lengths, and then dried for eight days. The original American 
and English Macaroni was called noodles, and the noodle soup 
of the present day is made with Vermicelli. The letters of the 
alphabet are also cast in dough, and make a common and inter- 
esting ingredient of hotel and restaurant soup. 

Are there a?iy native starch puddings ? 

Yes. Corn starch is used more largely than either tapioca 



126 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



or sago. All baking powders now in use are more than one-third 
starch. America produces 500,000,000 pounds of corn starch, 
2,000,000 pounds of wheat starch, and 30,000,000 pounds of 
potato starch. Wheat starch is used in the fine laundries. The 
largest consumers of starch are the paper makers, the carpet 
weavers and the makers of cotton and linen cloth. 

Hozu is Com Starch made ? 

The corn is cleaned under an air blast. It is then soaked in 
warm water, which is changed. In three days the corn is pulpy. 
Next it is ground in buhr-stones, in the old-fashioned manner, 

except that a stream of water is always 
passing through the stones. The milky 
water runs toward sieves where the bran 
and corn-germs remain behind for cattle- 
feed. The starch-milk now runs down 
inclined planes, and as it is insoluble in 
cold water, it sinks to the bottom of the 
stream, like sand. This sediment is se- 
cured and washed over and over again. 
It is then molded into blocks about six 
by eight inches in size, which are baked. 
The heat draws out a crust of impuri- 
ties, which is scraped off by boys and 
girls. After scraping, the blocks are put 
in the drying room, where the steady but 
low heat causes them to break into the 
irregular masses which are sold in the 
trade. The fine brands are ground or pulverized for the market. 
The irregular crystals of the old time starch are seen no more, 
or rarely. Corn yields twenty-four to twenty-eight pounds of 
starch to the bushel. Wheat starch is made in the same way. 

What is Buckivhcat ? 

It is a plant which raises a seed like a beechnut — that is, 
triangular in shape, and our word Buckwheat comes from the 
German Buchweisen, or Beech-w T heat. A vast quantity of 
Buckwheat is used in the United States for griddle-cakes. The 
bees favor a buckwheat field, and its yellow blossoms tell of the 




Fig. 55. DIGESTOR FOR 
STARCH DETERMIN- 
ATION. 



BREAD, ETC. 127 

yellow dye-stuff that the plant produces. In Asia, similar yellow 
dye-stuffs are used both for food and medicine. The buckwheat 
breakfast griddle-cake is a winter dish, remarkable for its light- 
ness, and the rapidity with which it can be cooked. It is a 
feature of the modern cheap lunch counter in large cities. 

What are Crackers ? 

In Europe crackers are biscuits. Biscuit means twice cooked. 
In America, the term Biscuit is applied to small pieces of regular 
bread or to small pieces of bread-food that have been quickly 
fermented by means of baking powder. There are hundreds 
of different kinds of crackers, but we are accustomed to 
three main styles — first, the round cracker that comes in bar- 
rels and is about the size of a silver dollar ; next, the big square 
thin soda cracker; lastly, the little oyster cracker, the size of a 
thumb's end. Plain water crackers and ship biscuits are harder 
and simpler in make-up. The cracker is usually made largely 
by machinery. The dough-mixer is cylindrical, with revolving 
arms inside, like the macaroni mixer. The dough is rolled out 
like paper, the crackers are cut by machinery, and a wide travel- 
ing band carries the pans into which they have fallen on an 
endless chain through an oven nearly forty feet long. They are 
usually subjected to great heat, so that the flour in a barrel of 
crackers weighed more before it was baked than afterward — 
that is, some of the water is dried out of the original flour as it 
came from the miller. In the civil war of 1861-65, the soldiers 
called their crackers u hard-tack." 

Name some of our crackers and cakes. 

Butter Wafers, Sea Spray and Pearl Oysters, Soda Biscuits, 
Club-House Wafers, Crystal Wafers, White Wings, Indian Gems, 
Graham Biscuits and Wafers, Oatmeal Biscuits and Wafers, 
Toast and Milk Biscuits, Pilot Bread, Arrowroot, Albert and 
Abernethy Biscuits, Afternoon Teas, Animals, Alphabets, Anise, 
Assorted Cookies and Jumbles, Almond Macaroons, Long 
Branch, Chocolate Wafers, Cracknels, Coffee Cakes, Cocoanut 
Bars, Fig Biscuits, Fig and Honey Bars, Frosted Creams, Ginger 
Snaps, Grandma Cookies, Honey Fingers and Jumbles, Lemon 
Creams, Snaps and Wafers, Marshmallow Eclairs, Murray 






THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Squares, New England Wafers, Orange Blossoms and Crisps, 
Pretzellettes, Raspberry Tarts, Snowballs. Sultana Fruit, Spice 
Nuts, Square Meal, Vanilla Squares and Wafers, Wine Biscuits, 
Cracker Meal, Imported German Wafers, variously scented, in 
tin cans, English scented Biscuits in cans, Dog Biscuits, Whole 
eat Wafers, Gluten Wafers, three grades of Oatmeal and of 
Graham Crackers. Every first-class city grocery is expected to 
keep all these and all the newly advertised brands on sale. 

What is Baking Powder? 

It is a modern ready-made mixture of the acids and alkalis 
that were used by our ancestors to produce a quick rising in 
dough. [See Chemistry.] The wars of baking powder compa- 
nies, whereby each one endeavored to show that all the others 
used ammonia, have brought these institutions prominently 
before the people, but to the active housewife they are all well 
known on their own merits. A large city uses three million 
pounds of baking powder a year. Baking powder is composed 
of cream of tartar and soda, with starch added to keep the 
twain apart until they are wet in the dough. When wet, they 
generate carbonic acid gas, like yeast, and the dough a rises. " 
Cream of tartar is a white powder or crystal, which is made 
from wine settlings, or a argals." Crusts of tartar form on the 
casks, hence the name of "cream," Beside its tartaric acid, it 
contains some potash. Soda is the carbonate of sodium, and 
sodium is one of the two principal alkali metals. 

Where does the word Alkali come from ? 

From the Mediterranean sea-weed which the Arabs called 
Kali, and the ashes of all sea-weeds furnished the earliest source 
of the soda of commerce. Now it is produced more cheaply 
the decomposition of common salt. Salt is burned with 
sulphuric acid, and then with chalk and coal. The mass is 
then soaked, dissolved and again roasted until it becomes the 
soda of our baking powder. We have described the making of 
starch. A Baking Powder Factory is the simple organization 
of an establishment for the economical and rapid mixing and 
:ing of tartar, soda and starch. Pipes lead from bins, and 
trucks pass under the pipes and take from each of the three 



BREAD, ETC. 129 

exactly the quantity that is needed. It is mixed in a machine 
and put in round tin boxes of various sizes by girls. 

How are these powders adulterated? 

With alum and ammonia. Ohio, Minnesota and other States 
were prompt in legislative attempts to make this impracticable, 
and Germany has passed stringent laws. It is said that if you 
put baking powder that contains ammonia into boiling water, 
say a teaspoonful of the suspected powder to a cupful of water, 
the odor of ammonia can be detected. To find alum, put two 
teaspoonfuls of baking powder into a glass of cold water. If 
there be no alum present, the water will effervesce, but alum 
will prevent the foaming. 

What is Graham Bread ? 

Sylvester Graham was a minister of Massachusetts who died 
at Northampton, in 185 1. At that time Ohio was the Far West. 
He became a fanatical vegetarian, and attributed intemperance 
to the eating of meat. Among his other reforms was the idea 
that bread ought to be baked from wheat flour that had not been 
sifted, so as to get more of the bran, or at least nearer to the 
husk, where the gluten lies thickest in the kernel. The millers 
found a ready sale for unbolted (unsifted) flour, and Graham 
flour is still a commercial article in the markets of America, 
though unknown by name in Europe. Of course, dyspeptic 
people enlarged on Graham's idea, and Boston Brown Bread — a 
loaf that looks like an English plum pudding — is still served at 
leading hotels and restaurants. The brown crust of all 
" bottom " loaves of white bread serves a better purpose in the 
stomachs of people of delicate organisms, and the judgment of 
mankind has gone against coarse food as essential to health. 

Does climate affect food-practices ? 

It probably governs them. Man is the only animal that lives 
on all parts of the earth, for the reason possibly, that he is able 
to adjust his diet to the necessities of the situation. In hot lati- 
tudes, meats and stimulants are denied; in cold regions the same 
things are suggested. It is found that most of the great religions 
flourish best in the climates where they originated. Thus it 



130 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

would be difficult for a devout Scotch Presbyterian and a devout 
Mussulman to change places and adhere to all their previous 
ideas. The two hundred and fifty million inhabitants of Hin- 
dostan are probably the most temperate people on earth, but 
the reason is to be found in the hot weather that is their portion 
in life. 

Are Beans eaten? 

Yes. The Boston Baked Beans, as they are often called in 
this country, are first boiled, and then should be " fired " in an 
earthen bowl and in a baker's oven, with a small piece of fat 
pork to give them a certain flavor. Thus, the dish forms a 
kind of pie, with brown crust, much desired by bean-eaters. In 
New England towns the people took their own bowls of boiled 
beans to the baker's oven early in the morning. In the cities, 
very small individual vessels, thus prepared, are served at the 
lunch-counters and in many restaurants. The grocers also keep 
these beans in cans, and they are extensively advertised over the 
country. The Mexican frijoles, which, with corn, are the main 
food of the peons, are beans. The common white bean, which 
is thus used, is noted for its life-sustaining qualities, but is to 
be easily digested only by very active or healthy people. There 
are many other kinds of beans, but they are served in America 
as side dishes and used for pickles. The " locusts " that St. 
John ate in the wilderness, are usually said to have been beans. 
Pulse may be peas or beans, or any podded seeds. 

What of new uses for the various grains? 

The late war experiences developed a tremendous demand 
for smokeless powder. All the nations are equipping 
themselves with supplies of this recent invention. The 
exact formula of manufacture is a government secret, but 
immense quantities of alcohol derived from grain is used in the 
process. Then also, the use of grains for food is increasing 
faster than the increase of population. Vast mercantile interests 
have lately been built up on newly invented processes of pre- 
paring edible grains. The future of America as the great 
agricultural nation of the world is indeed very bright. 




J&, Butter, Cbeese, Etc. j^ 




kT j iTaTj . Ti tT i 

TTTTT 



fF^dtf is Butter ? 

It is the fat of cows' or other animals' milk. It is highly 
palatable,, nutritious, inimitable, and in the form which is 
common in the Northern States of America, is not known, or is 
little known, in the older countries of the earth bordering on the 
Mediterranean and Red Seas and Persian Gulf. It is highly 

recommended to all persons of spare build 
or afflicted with lung ailments. 

What remarkable things have happened 
in the butter trade ? 

The methods of making have been re- 
formed and improved, and the business of 
adulterating and trying to imitate it has 
assumed enormous importance. When that 
great encyclopedia called the History of 
Adulteration shall come to be written, the 
principal chapter should be devoted to the 
war made on good butter by meat-pack- 
ers and Tenderers. One by one the good 
restaurants of the great cities have sur- 
rendered to the enemy, until it is only at 
high-priced and celebrated places that the 
wayfarer can procure what he pays for — 
cow's butter. In small households, thanks 
to the Federal laws, there is far more 
protection, because the small grocer cannot 
afford to take out an oleomargarine license 
for selling substitute butter. 




Fi£.56. KOENIG'S APPA- 
RATUS FOR DISTIN- 
GUISHING MARGAR- 
INE FROM BUTTER. 



131 



132 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




Fig. 57. CHEESE GROTTO AT BERTRICK, BADEN. 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 



133 



What great change in Butter-making has come ? 

The Creamery, where real butter is made by machinery, and 
the odors of the old-time spring-house and milk-pans, so readily 
absorbed by butter, are precluded. As personal odors also 
entered into the old-time problem of butter-ladling, the modern 
creamery butter, all the year round, is often as good as the best 
hand-made butter used to be when grass was at its best. 

Where has butter-making led other industries in America ? 

In Dutchess and Herkimer Counties, New York, and at Elgin, 
Illinois. The Elgin Creameries became famous thirty years ago, 
and their practices have been copied in all the grazing regions 
of the land. At the World's Fair of 1893, a separate building 
was erected for the dairies. 

Describe a modern small country Creamery. 

The institution is usually located at a thriving market-town, 
and is so placed as to be equally convenient to two main country 
roads. It may have been promoted by men who had machinery 
to sell, and can be carried with a capital of from $2,000 to 
$5, 000, paying liberally on the investment. A large platform 
stands about wagon-high in front, and on this platform are the 




Fig. 58. KROCKER'S CREAM MEASURER. 

receiving tank-scales. The farmers drive up with their large 
milk-cans and the receiving-clerk empties the load, weighs it, 



134 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

and enters the amount in his scratch-book. After this account 
has been made, the milk leaves the scales and flows into the big 
receiving-vat, which will contain three tons of the liquid. Near 
the big vat is a tempering caldron, with inside steam-pipes, which 
warm the milk to not less than 59 nor more than 61 degrees. 
Here it goes into the separator. 

Describe the Cream Separator. 

This centrifrugal machine has made it unnecessary to "set" 
milk, and milk-pans are out of use. It was invented in Sweden, 
where the steel of which the earliest bowls were made was of 
the highest quality. Later, Americans discovered a method of 
using sectional pieces of wrought iron piping, and now the 
cream separator has become comparatively cheap, and there are 
several great manufactories at Chicago, turning out thousands 
of machines each year. When a pan of milk is set, it is the 
force of gravity that is put at work, and the fats rise because 
they are lightest. If the milk-pail were swung about with great 
speed, in order to develop and maintain the centifrugal force or 
momentum, the cream would come toward the hand that swung 
the pail. If we put the milk in this bowl and set the bowl 
whirling at a greet speed, the separation will take place almost 
instantly. Thus a pipe of milk may be leading into the bowl, 
and two pipes out, for the cream will issue from a pipe at the 
top and the skim milk from a larger pipe at the side. This 
machine is geared to run by hand, horse power or steam, but at 
the Creamery, the steam engine by which the milk is tempered 
also operates the separator. 

What becomes of the cream ? 

The little cream pipe leads to a cream vat holding four hundred 
gallons, or two and one-half tons, while the skim milk goes in a 
small pipe to the milk vat. At the end of twenty-four hours a 
large cubical revolving box churn is nearly filled with cream. It 
is closed tightly and steam-pow r er is applied to the axle on which 
the box hangs. The machine revolves swiftly, and in less than 
half an hour three hundred pounds of butter have been formed in 
the churn. This is thrown on a table and worked or ladled with a 
heavy lever that is fastened at one end to the table. It is then 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 



135 



salted, packed in large pails, and a salted cloth is spread over it, 
the cover is laid on, and it is ready for the market street of a great 
city, or the country store. In the cities, the small grocer goes to 
the market street early in the morning in his own wagon. In 
1881 the price of the best Elgin creamery butter rose to sixty-five 
cents apound at the city groceries. For thirty years creamery but- 
ter has held the best place in the market, displacing the finest 
hand-made country butter. An ordinary country creamery will 
use 1,500,000 gallons of milk in a year, out of which it will 
make 55,000 pounds of butter and 66, coo pounds of cheese. 
The average creamery price of butter is ordinarily about 
twenty-one cents a pound. 

How are the farmers paid for their milk ? 

By the hundredweight — something like 70 cents for standard 
milk. The commonest adulterations are water,starch and yellow 

colors, such as the yolks of eggs, 
carrots and even metallic yellows. 
To keep milk from showing its age, 
boric and salicylic acids, soda, and 
other chemicals areadded. Methods 
have been adopted which discover 
all these practices. To find the 
water a gravity tube is sunk in the 
milk. If a vessel holding a thousand 
pounds of water be filled with good 
milk it must weigh from one thou- 
sand and twenty-eight to one thou- 
sand and thirty-five pounds — both 
water and milk at 60 degrees of 
temperature. Suppose we weight- 
ed a closed glass tube with iron or 
mercury and let it stand upright in 
the water. Now mark the water line 
1,000. Sink the same tube in ordinary milk, and the tube will not 
go down to the water mark. Mark the milk-line, say 1031, and 
grade the space between the two lines into thirty-one equal 
parts. This tube would then be a lactometer, If the milk 




Fig. 59. SOXHLETS APPARATUS 
FOB DETERMINING FAT 

IN MILK. 



136 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



shows less than 1028, it is certainly watered. If it goes over 
1035, cream or another heavy body from outside sources has been 
added. About 87.5 per cent, of good milk is water. To find 
starch, tincture of iodine is introduced, which colors the starch 
cells blue. If there is dextrine in the milk, it will turn red. If 
the milk-tester discovers a can of milk that does not hold up to 
the lactometer properly, he can then proceed further. 

W licit is Professor Bab cock's sulphuric acid centrifugal 
machine ? 

This is in reality a cream separator into which sulphuric acid 
has been put along with the milk to be tested. What is desired 

is to know the proportion of fat to the 
milk. Milk, besides its 87.5 per cent. 
water, is composed of fat, sugar, 
caseine (that is cJieese-ine) and salts. 
The sulphuric acid destroys the sugar, 
caseine and salts — that is, reduces 
them to the condition of water, so 
that, in the whirling of the test tube, 
they will stay with the water. The 
acid lets the fat alone. Now suppose 
the test tube or bottle to be so finely 
graded at the nozzle (like a drug- 
gist's graduate, or glass scale) that while the milk in the 
bottle represents one hundred pounds of milk, each mark on the 
nozzle represents one pound of butter fat. The bottle fits in a 
tin pail, and the pail is hung on a wheel that stands like the 
wheel of a car-brake. Then this wheel is whirled by a crank 
and gearing. Of course many bottles may be hung on at once. 
As in the cream-separator, the watery parts of the milk are 
thrown to the bottom of the bottle as it flies out to a horizontal 
position, and the oil rises to the slim nozzle, where the graded 
marks show what proportion in pounds it will bear to one 
hundred pounds of the milk. Each week a test is made which 
shows the butter-producing quality of each farmer's milk, and 
he is paid for each hundred weight according to its value as a 
butter-producer. 




Fie. 60. BABCOCK'S MILK 
TESTING APPARATUS. 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 



137 



What is the history of Butter ? 

The word butter is very old, but the method of making it has 

varied. The word comes from the Greek 
Sous, ox, cow, and turos y cheese — that is, 
cow-cheese. The Hebrews and Semites 
generally used the word chameah. It was 
usually a liquid, as Judges 4:19 and 5:25. 
Yet butter was churned, as at Proverbs 
30:33. The Romans preserved the name 
of butter in butyrum. In India ghee is 
used, which is boiled butter. Beckman 
(History of Inventions) believes that butter 
came into Europe by the north, through 
the Scythians and Goths, and that the 
Romans used it as a medicine. In Italy, 
Spain and Portugal, and in the Southern 
States, oil often supplies the place of 
butter. 




Fig.61. AMAGAT-JEAN'S 
OLEO-REFRACTRO- 
SCOPE FOR TESTING 
OILS AND BUTTER. 



What becomes of the skim milk ? 

We left that in the big vat. The butter fat had been whirled 
out of it, but there still remained the caseine. In Latin, caseus 
is the word for cheese. Rich cheeses are never made from skim 
milk, but skim milk cheese is rich in nitrogenous or meaty 
qualities, and takes the place of animal food. When you set a 
pan of milk away and forget it, it curdles, or thickens, and turns 
sour. Cheese is itself a curd. Many acid substances will help 
to thicken milk, but one alone seems better than all others. It 
is the fourth or digesting stomach or rennet of a suckling calf. 
It is cut in strips, salted and smoked. When put in the milk 
vat it excites a rapid fermenting action, which can be secured 
by no other means as well, and which is scientifically known as 
yet only by its effects. To aid the fermentation, steam pipes 
raise the temperature of the mass, and the whey, or water, or 
serum, is allowed to escape. The mass is colored to supply the 
hue of the butter that has been taken from it by the cream 
separator, and paddled and mixed a good deal, until it is a solid 
rather than a fluid. It is then poured or shoveled into the 



138 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

cheese-grinder, which mixes, beats and sifts the substance. 

What is it now ? 

The raw material of a cheese. This is put into hoop steels, 
the size of the box into which the cheese is to go, and pressure 
is applied. The hoop is lined with the cheese cloth which is to 
cover the product. More whey comes out under pressure. The 
finished cheese then goes to the curing room where it is shelved. 
A cream cheese ought to stay there six weeks. The skim milk 
cheeses made at our country creameries bring two cents a pound 
less than the cream cheeses. Canada excels as a cheese-produ- 
cing region, and at the World's Fair of 1893, in the Canadian 
pavilion of the Agricultural Building, the cheese that took the 
prize weighed 22,000 pounds. In Missouri, an eminent farmer 
received the soubriquet of " Big Cheese Robbins" for a similar 
feat of cheese-making. 

Wliat foreign cheeses are liked in America ? 

The finest is Roquefort, which is made from ewes' milk, and is 
mixed with bread. By curing the cheese in a cave, which holds 
one temperature the year round, the bread molds in such way as 
to give a characteristic flavor to the cheese. A taste for this 
cheese once acquired, cannot be satisfied w T ith any other make. 
It is the usual finishing touch at great banquets. Roquefort 
comes in sectional parts of small cheeses, wrapped in tin foil. 
It is not successfully imitated in America. 

What is Edam cheese ? 

It is usually the red sphere you see in the grocery. Tt used 
to be called Dutch cheese. It is colored with annatto, annotto, 
or arnotto, variously spelled, a red dyestuff obtained from a tree 
called Bixa in the West Indies. The curd is saturated in salt 
brine before it is pressed into the sphere, and this gives it the 
quality of " keeping" in nearly all climates. Probably the 
celebrity of Edam cheese comes rather from its being obtainable 
everywhere than from its just place among fine cheeses. All the 
way through its making, the idea is to salt it, and this was 
needed to meet the demands of the Dutch trade with the hot 
Countries. 



WTTER, CttEEsE, ETC. 139 

What is Schweizerkase ? 

This is the great Swiss cheese, which is so highly prized by 
all the German race in America. It is a very hard goats' milk 
cheese in which gas has left large bubbles. It is the stand-by of 
the beer saloon, and is a really fine cheese that cannot be success- 
fully imitated in America. The American substitutes lack in 
color, gaseous effects and taste. The smell, like that of all 
goats'-milk cheeses, is offensive to American nostrils, and 
Schweizerkase (that is, Swiss Cheese) is vulgarly called 
Limburger on this acconnt, but we rarely see the latter. Lim- 
burger is sold in tin foil. 

What are De Brie and Camembert ? 

They are fine, rank-smelling French cheeses that come in 
small packages, and are pasty in substance. They are eaten by 
epicures both to satisfy an acquired taste, and to promote 
digestion, for it is usually said of these cheeses that although 
they are themselves indigestible, they may be eaten to digest 
other food. 

What is Parmesan cheese? 

It is a cheese made on the banks of the Po River in Italy. It 
comes to America in bottles, the cheese having been rasped into 
crumbs. It is popular as a dressing for macaroni. But a great 
deal of this cheese becomes rancid from age, and judgment is 
required in buying. As a general thing, the foreign dainty that 
is seldom called for, being disliked by the masses of the people 
any way, is in bad condition when it is bought, and probably 
the Edam cheese is the only product of the kind that is fairly 
proof against the tooth of time. 

What is Schmierkase ? 

Smear cheese, that is, whey cheese. It is made by house- 
wives all over the world. One of the fine cheeses — Neufchatel — 
belongs in appearance to this class of white, simple, unground, 
unleavened, unpressed, uncured curds. Yet the Neufchatel. 
although it looks as though it had been simply prepared, has 
been very carefully pressed out of sweet milk, with rennet. 



140 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



For wJiat are English cheeses noted? 

For their high flavor, color, purity and keeping qualities. 
The best are called Stilton, Cheddar, Cheshire, Wiltshire, 
Gloucester, etc. Stilton is made in Leicestershire, but is called 




Fig. 62. A CHESHIRE CHEESE PRESS. 

after a town in Huntingtonshire. The cream of an evening's 
milking is added to a morning's new milk, with rennet. The 
curd is not broken or paddled, but drains itself in a sieve 
gradually, and afterward under gentle pressure. Green mould 
comes on it when it is ripe, and care is exercised in all stages, 
even to eating it. Its fame in the English-speaking world is 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 141 

very great. The American cheeses were for many years very 
poor imitations of England's output, and are yet considered 
tame and inedible by many epicures, but it must be considered 
that epicures eat cheese as a dessert, while the American farmer, 
laborer and business man often depends on cheese and crackers 
for a good lunch. 

What animals give milk that is made into cheese, butter^ or 
liquor ? 

The cow. In mountainous countries, the goat (Neufchatel 
and Swiss cheeses). At Roquefort, the sheep (Roquefort cheese). 
In Lapland the reindeer. In Russia, the mare, where Kumyss 
is made. In the Arabic deserts and countries, the camel. The 
cream is put in a skin sack and the sack is swung until the 
butter comes. Asses' milk is highly esteemed as a food for 
invalids in northern lands. 

Has imitation flourished, as in the case of butter? 

No. There is nothing to imitate save the fancy foreign 
cheeses, and there the epicure is an efficient judge for himself. 
But American cheese-makers have been abroad to study all the 
methods, and when the importations of a fancy cheese become 
notable — (the entire amount is not large) — that cheese is put on 
the market. One factory in New York is said to produce two 
hundred thousand foreign cheeses. They deceive nobody who 
really likes foreign cheese, but in the way of Schweizerkase the 
American bogus product displaces a really good article to a 
considerable extent. And here, where success is the greatest, 
the imitation is the poorest. 

What is Club-House Cheese f 

A home product for which Americans deserve credit. It is 
full cream cheese, run through a grinder, mixed with butter, 
salted, cured also with a little brandy, put up in a glass, covered 
with paraffin paper, and a glass top screwed on. Here we have 
a package that will keep and will not absorb odors, or, what is 
better, give them out. It is also of a size convenient for 
purchase and use. 

What is the principal imitation of butter ? 

Oleomargarine, generally called butterine. A Parisian chemist 



142 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



named Mege Mouries is credited with establishing the first imi- 
tation dairy in the world in 1870, during the siege of his city. 
The instant success of this institution led to the establishment 
of similar factories at the Stock Yards in Chicago, and it was not 
long before the farmers of America were confronted with a 
rivalry that was harmful in many ways. The new product 
undersold and cheapened butter, and yet was sold as butter. 
People who had paid for one kind of food got another. But 
first of the thing itself — oleomargarine or butterine. If olein 
were the chief element of butter, could not olein be rendered 
from other parts of a cow than her udder ? Margarine, like 
Margaret comes from the ancient name of the pearl. It was a 
pearl-like fat. The word had long been in our large dictionaries. 
Olein is a modern word, but oleic acid can come from any 
vegetable or animal oil. The compound word Oleomargarine 
was brought into the world by the Parisians, and excited the 
greatest scorn in America, where the substance was to win its 
chief triumphs. The caul-fat of the cow, covering the intes- 
tines, was found to contain olein to the extent of twenty-nine 
pounds to each animal, and this caul-fat or olein, or oleomar- 
garine, or tallow, as it may properly be called, is expressed in 
oil, and shipped to Holland, to the extent of $10,000,000 worth 
a year. The Hollanders pay nearly ten cents a pound for the 
oil. 

Describe a butterine factory ? 

It may occupy a large building near a slaughter-house. The 
intestinal tallow or caul-fat is dumped in a tank of water, w T here 
the blood and dirt are washed away. The fat next goes to rows 
of iron cauldrons lined with steam pipes and the temperature is 
raised to one hundred and fifty-five degrees, for the fat must 
not be burned. Revolving arms stir the fat, and it slowly tries 
out. It drains into large clanfiers, where a sediment that is 
not wanted settles to the bottom. A siphon draws away the 
clear oil into tin-lined trucks, which are trundled to a so-called 
cool-room, where the temperature is maintained at eighty-five 
degrees. Here it cools and granulates. 
What is next? 
It now goes to tne press-room. The tallow in the truck has 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC 143 

a yellowish cast, upholding the chemists* claim that it contains 
the principle of butter. Men now prepare it in little cakes for 
the presser. In front of each man is a small square mould. 
Over the mould a piece of white duck cloth is spread. The 
mould is then filled with tallow and the duck is folded over the 
square cake. Eight cakes are then placed on a piece of sheet- 
iron under the big press, and covered with another piece of 
sheet-iron. Eight more cakes are put on, and thus the stack is 
built up until there are sixty layers and four hundred and eighty 
cakes. Screw pressure is applied, and the oleomargarine oil is 
expressed from the cakes. 

What remains ? 

Stearine in flattened cakes, pure white and almost tasteless. 
It is used as an ingredient in making certain brands of lard. The 
oil that comes away from the press was of a bright amber color. 
It again goes into steam-pipe cauldrons, where it is stirred by 
machinery. The temperature is raised to one hundred and 
eighty-five degrees, and it is again run into tin-lined truck-tanks 
and chilled. Now the oleomargarine passes through a bath or 
brine, and then granulates, resembling a light brown grade of 
sugar, and slightly resembling butter in taste. It is packed in 
tin-lined trays, six feet long by three feet wide, and goes to the 
store-room. 

What is Neutral ? 

It is leaf lard, from swine, that has gone through the brine, 
and is now to be used as an adulterant of this adulteration, for 
you see the manufacturers are not able to make enough money 
out of pure oleomargarine. The trays of Neutral are placed in 
the same storage with the oleomargarine, A chute leads from 
the storage floor to the creamery, and workmen, as the trucks 
holding oleomargarine and Neutral are trundled out, shovel 
them in equal parts. Forty per cent, of the butterine we eat is 
lard. Forty per cent, is oleomargarine. 

What is the remainder of 20 per cent ? 

In the best butterine it is good butter. The chute leads to a 
vat, where the two kinds of fat are heated to one hundred and 
eighty degrees, and stirred by men with paddles. We are now 



!44 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

in the churn-room. Near by are all the appurtenances of the 
genuine creamery which we have previously described — milk- 
vats, cream separator and revolving butter churn. As the 
butter is churned, it is added with some of its buttermilk, to 
the big vat, where the men still stir with paddles, and perform 
what they call the operation of churning. If color be needed, 
it is added, exactly as at a country creamery, the same pigments 
being used. 

Is the mass worked ? 

Yes. It goes on a circular table, and a long conical roller or 
butter-worker squeezes out the buttermilk and mixes in the salt 
which the operator adds, using meanwhile a wooden paddle. 
Again it is loaded into tin-lined trucks, and stands a day, when 
it once more goes on the circular table. Now it is ready for the 
packing-room down stairs. Here the United States takes a 
hand. Each package must be marked " Oleomargarine " in 
plain type, and the factory number must be added. The maker 
must pay a license tax of $600 a year, and a wholesale tax of 
$480, with a tax of two cents a pound on all the product 
manufactured. Retailers pay $48 more, yearly. 

Are there any State regulations ? 

Yes. In some of the Pacific States the keepers of inns and 
boarding-houses must place before each guest a card bearing a 
definite notification that the stuff set before him is sham butter, 
and the chemical ingredients must be separately stated. 

Is there any other adulteration ? 

Yes. Cocoa is used. In 1895, there was established at 
Chicago, a factory for the manufacture of butter and lard for 
household use from cocoa-nut oil. Ceylon produces cocoa-nuts 
in enormous quantities, and the oil or " butter" is shipped to 
America at the rate of twenty-five million pounds a year, for 
the use of soap and candle-makers. But an inventor named 
Campbell found a new use for it. 

Describe a cocoa-butter factory and its output ? 

The pipes or barrels of cocoa-butter are carried to the top 
floor, which is heated to one hundred and thirty degrees. The 



BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC. 145 

butter in the barrels turns into oil. It is then poured into 
cauldrons which are jacketed with hot water, like oatmeal 
chokers. Into the cauldrons, mixing with the oil, the inventor 
puts a secret solution, which kills the fermenting germs of the 
oil. The oil next goes down-stairs and is mixed with water. 
The secret solution unites with the water and leaves oil. Then 
a centrifugal machine or cream-separator, making four thousand 
revolutions a minute, throws away the water and the solution. 
It is now " stock," ready for use. 

What is done with it ? 

If it goes into immediate use, it is poured on top of water in 
tin vats. Into the water a cold air blast is injected with great 
force, and this churns the oil into granulated white butter. It 
goes to a store-room, where it " ripens," somewhat like cheese, 
developing acids that are desired. It may now be mixed with 
creamery butter, exactly as at the butterine factory. The 
capacity of this factory is twenty thousand pounds daily. 
Without mixing, the product becomes a substitute for lard, and 
its makers claim for it many advantages over the fat of swine 
for cooking purposes. 

What is Condensed Milk? 

It is milk from which three-quarters of the water has been 
evaporated. It was put on the market three years before the 
Civil War by Gail Borden, who erected a factory at Wolcott, 
Conn. A few years later an establishment was started at Elgin, 
111., where the milk of 2,000 cows is shipped in tin cans to all 
parts of the world, and several factories are operated by the 
New York Condensed Milk Company. The milk comes to the 
factory as it does to a creamery, but perhaps even more care is 
taken as to cleanliness, and to prevent souring. At the scales 
the milk undergoes an eye and nose inspection, and all suspicious 
deliveries are sampled for the chemist's tests. Before the 
farmers' cans are returned, they are scalded, and they must be 
washed again at home. The copper storage tanks hold twenty 
thousand gallons. Thence the milk goes to " wells " where it 
is heated to the boiling point, and is strained off into the sugar 




146 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

mixer, where granulated sugar, the preservative, is added. 
The mixture of milk and sugar is now ready for the vacuum- 
pans, for it is to be treated exactly as sap or sugar-cane juice 
are, "boiled down." But it requiesa temperature of only one 
hundred and forty degrees, and the evaporation is rapid. The 
remainder is condensed milk, a thick, white or cream colored 
custard. It goes to the coolers and thence to the little cans. 

What is its use ? 

It goes with the explorer across the forests of Africa, and with 
the civil engineer when he traverses Siberia or bridges the Andes. 
It is carried with every sportsman's outfit into the deep woods 
of America. Its reputation is so high that the factory keeps up 
a system of outside inspection, whereby every cow that contri- 
butes to the supplies of ihe factory is examined as to the 
condition of her health, and only certain kinds of food are 
allowed. The tin cans are made at the factory. 

To what other use is condensed milk put ? 

It is evaporated without sugar and sold in large quantities to 
the manufacturers of ice cream in cities, and to bakers and 
confectioners who use it in place of cream. 

What is sterilized milk? 

Milk raised to a temperature of one hundred and sixty-seven 
degrees Fahrenheit, and kept at that heat for twenty miuutes. In 
this way all bacilli are destroyed. A double boiler is used — 
that is, the outer vat is set in surrounding water. Large 
quantities of milk are thus prepared at factories for use in the 
market as food for infants and children. 

What is Kumyss ? 

Kumyss or Koumiss is an effervescent drink prepared from 
mare's milk by the Tartars, Calmucks etc., and imitated in 
America by manufacturers who make it from cow's milk. The 
Russian method is as follows : The fresh mare's milk, noted 
for its sweetness, is diluted with one-third to one-sixth water, 
and placed in a sack of goat-skin, or a bottle made from the 






BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC 147 

skin of the entire hind-quarter of a horse. The yeast used is 
kor y the sediment from a previous brewing. The bottle must 
be frequently shaken. In tv/enty-four hours the fermentation is 
complete, and the young "Kumyss" is made. It is called saumal 
Fresh milk is added daily, and water evaporates from the 
surface of the hide. The Russian beverage is highly intoxi- 
cating, but the American Kumyss will not make anybody drunk. 
About 1876, it was well advertised in the European cities as a 
health drink, and invalids in America very generally tried it. 
Many persons who do not like butter-milk enjoy the taste of 
Kumyss as it is made here. 




148 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 




Fig. 63. GATHERING DATES. 



►W>M>£< 



mm-. 










Is America well supplied with Fruit ? 

Yes. On account of the facilities of modern transportation, 
the people enjoy the luxuries of all climates. A visitor to the 
World's Fair of Philadelphia, in 1876, or Chicago, in 1893, might 
see, at the gates of those expositions, most wonderful arrays of 
fruit by common vendors and peddlers, at prices within the 
reach of everybody. The fruits of America were also displayed 
at Chicago in bewildering profusion in the west side of the long 
Horticultural Building, in the equally large buildings of Cali- 
fornia and Washington, and in the Agricultural Building. 

What do you consider the most important American fruit ? 

The Apple. Its tree is hardy, and has been known to live two 
hundred years, although an orchard usually dies or ceases to 
bear in fifty years. The wild crab apple of the old world, is 
thought to be the parent of all our apples. The varieties best 
known are perhaps the Rhode Island Greening, Bellrlower, 
Pippin, Northern Spy, Rambo, Russet, Spitzenberg, Nonesuch, 
Wine apple, Baldwin, Snow apple and Seek-no-further. The 
Rambo is good at harvest-time. Such apples as the Greening 
and Northern Spy are hard and sour at that season, but in the 
middle of winter they soften and granulate, becoming delight- 
fully edible at a time of great need. The Russet, thick-skinned 
and forbidding to the latest moment, is the last to be eaten, and 
serves as the final reminder of the previous year. We export 
many apples to Europe. New York is a celebrated apple region 
because its orchards are well established. 

149 



150 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



What followed the failure of vines in France ? 

The culture of apples, and the use by the French of cider as a 
drink, until a billion gallons a year were consumed. 

How are Apple trees improved ? 

By grafting. The old Indian orchards, so frequently met in 
the West, show a fruit not much above the crab-apple in quality. 
A branch is sawed off, and the twigs of a good apple tree are 
inserted in the split end of the amputated trunk. The graft is 
gummed in, and the new branch that grows bears better apples. 
The twig is called the scion, and the branch the stock. There 
are various other forms of making the juction, but the split is 
commonest. Webster's Dictionary gives a good and full illus- 
trated account at the word "Grafting." 

How are Apples consumed? 

They are barreled and stored in cellars for consumption at the 
fireside. They are dried and sold at the groceries. They are 
made into a preserve called apple-butter. They are crushed for 
their juice, which ferments into cider, and this cider is boiled 
into a thick sirup. They are sliced and canned for pies, and 
apple pie is eaten everywhere. 

What is the Alden process of drying ? 

A wooden chamber is built. Through this chamber endless 
chains operate by stages, moving once in four or five minutes. 
On these chains are placed trays of the apples or other fruit to 
be dried. Below the chamber a steam coil heats a blast of air. 
The air comes from a blower driven by a steam engine that 
heats the coil. The air grows less humid as the chain descends 
through the chamber. If necessary, moisture is imparted to the 
air blast. The process was called Supermaturation by its inven- 
tor, who likened its action to the course of nature in the Bartlett 
pear and the fig after they are plucked from the tree. 

What fruit closely allied to the Apple has become common ? 

The California or Bartlett Pear. On account of the opening 
of the Pacific Railroad, in 1869, the further cheapening of trans- 
portation by rival lines, and the capability of this fruit to self- 
ripen on its long journey, the yellow pear, during its season, 



FRUIT. 151 

in the autumn, is the most notable fruit on the stands of the 
street-vendors. So novel and delicious was this fruit regarded 
in the States east of the Mississippi in 1870, that single pears 
sold for from fifteen to twenty-five cents each on the streets of 
the cities. At that time there were about two hundred and eighty- 
thousand pear trees in California. The number enormously 
increased, and it was found that it would be profitable to ship 
even the smallest specimens of the fruit eastward. The native 
pears of the Eastern United States have a thicker green skin, 
and never take on a golden yellow. But they are preferred by 
many. Pears are canned more largely than apples. The cider 
made from pears is called Perry. The pear is as old historically 
as the apple, and both were well known to the ancients. 

What can you tell me of the Peach ? 

It is an ancient fruit, being the Tao of Confucius, 500 B. C. 
The Nectarine is an outgrowth of the Peach, and the Peach is 
probably an outgrowth of the Almond. The Plum is very 
closely allied to the Peach. The Peach comes to Western 
civilization from Persia, and belongs to the botanical genus 
Prunus Persica According to the soil and climate in which it 
grows, it varies from a small., mealy, indifferent ball of vegetable 
fur, to a very large, rich, juicy, highly flavored aad beautifully 
colored article of diet and refreshment. The Peach grows best 
at the margin of great bodies of fresh water, from which steady 
winds blow, as on the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, where a 
poor sandy soil has furnished some of the best Peaches in the 
world. The Peaches of California are still larger. 

Are there two kinds of all Peaches ? 

Yes, clingstone and free stone. The clingstone Peach, while 
considered of superior flavor, does not cut up so well, but serves 
as conveniently in preserves or sauces. It comes very early. 

How are Peaches cultivated? 

They are planted in orchards, and several of the battle-fields 
of the civil war were fought over Peach orchards, as at Shiloh 
and Gettysburg. As the tree is somewhat like a willow, its 
thick foliage offers shelter from view, without safety from 
bullets, so the Peach orchards of battle have been death-traps, 



15 2 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

where the carnage was always worst. A disease called "yellows" 
attacks the trees, and entire regions are denuded of their 
orchards, but it sometimes happens that individual trees resist 
disease with the good fortune of individual men, and for no 
better known reason. The Peaches are shipped from the 
orchards in baskets holding a bushel or one-fifth bushel. The 
small circular baskets have passed out of use. The common 
form is long and low, with a handle. The supplies for a great 
city make shiploads daily, and fruit trains also run on the rail- 
roads in season. Over two million baskets come to a city like 
Chicago in a year. 

How are Peaches used? 

They are sold on the streets, to be eaten in hand. They are eaten 
raw -on the table, sliced, with sugar and cream, and are nearly 
as highly esteemed in this way as strawberries, but are extremely 
perishable, requiring greater care in serving. They are stewed. 
They are dried, like apples, and this was once the common way 
of preserving them. They are made into Peach butter or jam, 
a thick sauce, and the fruit makes an excellent pickle, cloves 
being thrust in the sides for flavor. The Peach pie, made all the 
year round, is as staple as the apple pie at the city restaurants 
and lunch counters, and the consumption is enormous. 

Are Peaches canned? 

Vast quantities are prepared for use by canning, and doubt- 
less the canned Peach, as you see it at your grocery, leads all 
other forms of commerce in preserved fruits. There are great 
factories where the round three pound tin cans are made; there 
are great printing-works, where the most luscious peaches are 
pictured on paper, for the outside of cans, and at nearly every 
town where Peaches are raised for the market, the canning 
establishment flourishes. At first the fruit was peeled and 
stewed in a heavy liquor of sugar and water, but subsequently 
it was learned that the public preferred a cheaper and thinner 
preparation. The skin of a Peach is best removed by scalding. 
The general operation of canning is described later. (See 
Tomato.) The Peach is always sliced into halves, and the pit 
is taken out. The canning factories, by operating near the 



FRUIT. 153 

orchards, furnish needed employment to the boys and girls of 
the town. 

Do the California Canned fruits rank separately ? 

Yes, and in three grades or qualities. The names of the 
Peaches usually chosen for canning in California, are Lemon 
Cling, White Heath and Yellow. Attempts are also made by 
the trade to supply Peaches in cans for use on the table with 
cream. 

What is the Apricot ? 

It is a Peach with a smooth skin. It does not grow so large 
as a Peach, nor does it acquire a flavor so fine. It comes on the 
markets of America for short seasons, but cannot compete with 
the Peach. 

What is the Nectarine ? 

It is still another small smooth-rind Peach that comes from 
Persia along with the others. It is a California fruit and does 
not figure on the Eastern markets. 

The Cherry is also an important fruit, I think. 

Yes. And both kinds, the Eastern and Western, have their 
admirers. The Cherry of the East is red, juicy and luscious. 
The Cherry of California is much larger, but has less flavor. 
It is somewhat sweeter, with less of the cherry acid, which is so 
highly liked by many. Both kinds of Cherries have their origin 
in Asia, and it is said that Lucullus brought them to Rome when 
he returned from his campaign. The California kinds are called 
Ox-heart, both red and white, but they are also known as Dukes 
and Bigarreaux. The Eastern or common red cherries are called 
Morello and Gean (from Guigne). The householder finds that 
they play an important part as a canned fruit, and beside the 
immense quantities put up by Eastern women, the sale of Cali- 
fornia canned Ox-hearts is very general. These are called White 
and Black. The California Black (Red) Cherries that appear 
for a while on the fruit stands of America, are, for such pur- 
poses, perhaps the finest fruit we see. Our own Eastern 
cherry orchards are famous, and no tree could bi more beautiful 
than a Cherry in May, when it is in full bloom, or in July when 



l6 4 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

it is loaded with its gleaming red berries. Cherries are never 
cheap in the great cities. The hucksters cannot sell them on 
account of high price, and the season is short. There are about 
one hundred varieties. 

What is the Strawberry? 

It is considered by mankind generally to be the most desirable 
product of the earth, and a taste for Strawberries usually 
endures far into middle life, or perhaps to death. The Straw- 
berry furnishes one of the greatest commercial interests we have, 
and doubtless there are few Americans who do not each year 
obtain as many berries to eat as they ought to get. Nature 
gives a short period for the eating of this fruit, but at a city like 
New York, the season begins for the rich as early as March, and 
ends as late as August. 

Where do the word and the berry come from ? 

From the earliest races, who called it a stray-berry, a straying 
plant. The Aryans had the same word as stray for star. The 
scientists tell us that the strawberry is as if a wild rose had 
turned inside out, the stalk becoming swollen into a tumorous 
condition, with the seeds, which are little nuts or fruit, sticking 
in the side and exposed to the air. 

What makes the Strawberry red? 

The oxidation of its tender tissues — the same tendency that 
is in every green thing, as happens to all the autumn leaves. 
Where redness favors the life of a plant, it grows very bright; 
elsewhere the tendency is suppressed. Now the Strawberry, 
with its astonishingly malformed seed-holder, needs the birds 
to carry it away, for the birds cannot injure its seeds, but must 
scatter them in the earth. So its tendency to red is heightened. 
A plant so widely grown, with so many curious men at work 
upon it, must show the utmost variation, and it may be gener- 
ally said that this variation has resulted in a poorer berry, and 
man would have done well to let the birds alone. Some berries 
are offered on the market that have no more juice than a 
banana, and less flavor. The wild Strawberries are still the 
sweetest. 






FRUIT. m 

How are Strawberries distributed ? 

They are carried to cities and towns on fruit trains, which 
make trips of five hundred miles or more, the strawberry harvest 
beginning on the Gulf of Mexico, and going slowly northward 
to Canada, which is reached in July. A quart box with a high 
bottom is used. Two dozen of these boxes are piled in two 
layers in a larger box, and the grocer exposes the fruit with 
the top of the larger box off. Shiploads come to New York 
and boatloads to Chicago, the Michigan harvest being especially 
large. Something like a million cases a year pass into or 
through a large city. The Strawberry cannot be satisfactorily 
dried, canned or preserved, which perhaps tends to strengthen 
its hold on the appetites of the people. 

How are fruit boxes and berry boxes made ? 

Blocks of black ash are boiled in a steam-pipe cauldron. The 
hot logs, three feet long, are put in the lathe, and a knife turns 
the log into a sheet of veneer. The veneer is sawed into narrow 
strips for baskets or wider strips for boxes. To make a bushel 
basket, strips are placed in a ring or mould, so that they will all 
cross one another at the center of the ring. Then a punch 
drives a rivet at the center. The wheel of strips is then put on 
a metallic basket-form, and a ring descends which moulds the 
wheel down around the form. The lather or basket-maker then 
nails on strips of veneer for hoops, just as a cooper would do, 
passing around the apparatus as he nails. This operation makes 
an acrobat of the expert, as hands, feet and mouth are always 
busy. A boy puts on the bottom hoop, which is to protect the 
basket. The handles, carefully made, are put in place by a boy, 
and a machine sews them on with wire. 

How are berry-boxes made ? 

The variation from the process just described is not important. 
Two pieces of veneer are crossed. A machine descends and cuts 
part way through the veneer at the places where it is to fold 
upward. It is now bent on the box-form and a wide strip ot 
veneer, extending below the bottom, is nailed around the entire 
box, making a double thickness of wood. The factory gets 
about half a cent for each box. A man named Halleck is said 



15 6 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

to have invented the hollow bottom, making shipment of filled 
boxes in crates easy and practicable. He patented the idea. Box 
and basket factories thrive in all the American fruit regions — 
particularly in Michigan, California, Illinois and New Jersey. 

What is the Raspberry ? 

A delicately flavored berry of many colors, growing on a 
bramble, thorny vine, or bush. The old name was Raspise 
Berry and Bacon calls it a Rasp. The name comes from the 
file called rasp. This fruit appears on the market just as Straw- 
berries are closing out. It comes in pint boxes. The red berries 
are so fragile that fermentation or mould sets up soon, and 
they are not easy to distribute. The black or blue berries are 
dry or seedy. It is in the preserves that the full flavor and 
beautiful purple of the dark raspberry are obtained, 

What are Blackberries ? 

A fruit similar to the Raspberry. Neither is a berry, but a 
collection of little cherries, nuts, or peaches called drupes. The 
Blackberry crop is very important, and a wide distribution takes 
place among the people. Blackberry pies are widely consumed, 
and the flavor obtained in cooking is nearly as delicate as that 
of the Raspberry. The people preserve them in glass jars, and 
the Eastern Blackberry is canned. Some varieties of the fruit 
are cultivated too far, and the result is a product remarkable for 
the size of its seeds. Blackberries are held in esteem as an 
astringent food in dog days, and the Canadian or dew berry is 
one of the sweetest outgrowths of Mother Earth. 

What is the Blueberry or Whortleberry ? 

It is also called the Huckleberry. The Blueberry grows on 
tall shrubs in marshes. The Huckleberry is black, round, and 
grows in dry ground on a very low shrub. Blueberries are 
sought for harvest pies, and form a notable article of commerce 
in the Eastern States. They are canned, but are not popular in 
that form. Blueberries come to the cities in the same way that 
the other berries are sent, and are sold by the quart. They are 
used most largely for pies at the bakeries. 



FRUIT. 157 

What are Grapes ? 

Grapes are the source of Wines, and therefore are the most 
important of crops in certain regions. In New Jersey, and along 
the North Atlantic shore, in those parts along the south shore 
of Lake Erie and on the islands, and on the Pacific Coast, no 
other product occupies so much attention. But we here desire 
to speak of Grapes as a table fruit, or for food. In general, it is 
with Grapes as with Cherries and Pears — there are two main 
kinds, California and Eastern. California Grapes are large and 
" white "; Eastern Grapes are smaller and either blackish-blue 
or reddish. The California Muscatel Grape is generally dis- 
tributed in five-pound baskets over the country, and is the 
richest or sweetest in flavor. California, Ohio, New York, 
Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania are in their order, the 
principal Grape-growing States, viewed from commercial results. 

What are the Isabella, Concord and Catawba ? 

These are grown from Canada to North Carolina, are favorites 
in the Kelley Island districts, and are all offspring of Vitis 
Labrusca* 

Mention some other kinds. 

The Southern Fox, or Muscadine, or Bullace, not found north 
of Maryland. The Scuppernong and the Mustang of Texas are 
relatives of this vine ; so are the Mish, Thomas and some other 
Southern Grapes. The Summer Grape has varied into the 
Delaware, Herbemont, Rulander, etc. The Frost Grape has a 
fragrant flower and has many names, like Clinton, Taylor, 
Franklin, etc. There are nine of these families. 

What is the California Grape ? 

It is the Vitis Vinifera y or winebearer. It might also be 
called the raisin-bearer. And the cream of tartar of all our 
baking powder owes its existence to the same kind of Grape. 
It may be known as a family, by the fact that the skins cling to 
the pulp, nor is the pulp so tough as it is in the dark or red 
Grape. In the dead of winter we get a Grape of this order 
from Malaga, Spain. It comes in barrels, packed in sawdust, 
and sells at a high price, Invalids find it cooling and grateful 



158 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

to the taste, but the Malaga has no such sweetness as the 
Muscatel, 

What arc Raisins? 

Dried Grapes. They are nearly always " white " Grapes. 
Sometimes the stem of the cluster of Grapes is cut partly 
through, and the fruit dries on the vine, and a Raisins of the 
Sun" are thus secured. The clusters may be gathered, dipped 
in lye to soften the skin, and spread in the sun. Sometimes, as 
in Asia Minor, the clusters are dipped in water on which floats 
a layer of olive oil. The oil gives a lustre to the skin. Spain 
is the source of the finest cluster Raisins, which are dried from 
Malaga Grapes. The Raisins and " currants" of the Mediter- 
ranean, are small and inferior. California is producing good 
Raisins, and in time the California Muscatel should be the best, 
as the Grape is the sweetest and best flavored in its mature 
state. 

How do Grapes grow ? 

On large trailing vines. In the wild state the vine may reach 
the top and overspread the tallest tree of the forest, though 
saplings are usually chosen. Although there are many thousands 
of vines, the name of Vine usually designates clearly the stock 
on which Grapes grow, so ancient is the practice of grape- 
culture, and so important the commercial industry. The vine 
and figtree represent home in the ancient world. 

Name the principal members of the Citrus family. 

The Orange, Lemon, Lime, Citron, Bergamot, Cedrat, Lume, 
Tangerine, Shaddock. The oils of all these fruits are isomeric 
with each other — that is, the same elements are present in 
apparently the same quantities, yet, in mixing differently, a 
different chemical product results. They are also isomeric with 
oil of turpentine and other oils. The fruit is a large berry, in 
botany, and is called Hcsperdium. We sometimes see the 
enormously large Shaddocks on the fruit stands. It is said that 
a Captain Shaddock introduced this tree in the West Indies. 

For what is the Orange remarkable ? 

For the beauty of its color and shape and the perfume which 






FRUIT. 159 

it exhales. It grows on a beautiful evergreen tree and its culti- 
vators grow enthusiastic as they produce it for the market. 
The climate which is required for Orange culture recommends 
itself to all invalids, and Orange groves have thus united them- 
selves in popular thought with health, joy and peace. 

Where are the great Orange groves of America ? 

In California and Florida and on the Gulf coast. These 
regions view each other jealously, though it often happens that 
untoward weather throws one or the other of them out of the 
market. 

Where do our foreign Oranges come from ? 

Sicily, and other islands of the Mediterranean. Something 
like 2,000,000 boxes are imported. The Oranges of the Azores 
are celebrated, but of late years Florida has grown a large Navel 
Orange that has no superior in size, quality and absence of seed 
from the pulp. The California Navel Oranges have long been 
celebrated. 

What are Citrus Fairs t 

Expositions of all the fruits, like Oranges, Lemons, Limes, 
Citrons, that are allied. The fruit is built into towers, pyra- 
mids, bells, gateways, and the plants are shown in full bearing, 
or with fruit unpicked and hardening. What was practically a 
citrus fair was to be seen in the California exhibits at Chicago 
in 1893, and similiar fairs have been held in all the Eastern 
cities. 

How is the fruit packed? 

Each Orange is wrapped in tissue paper, and an oblong box 
with a partition is packed full or more than full. A thin cover 
is pressed on, and the box is ready for its long journey in the fruit 
car. At the market streets of great cities, the grocers and 
hucksters are supplied, but probably the greatest sale is accom- 
plished at the fruit stands in the streets, where the Orange is 
the standard attraction, along with the Banana, of which we 
spoke in our chapter on Bread food. 

Name some fancy Oranges. 

The Blood Orange comes from Malta, and is grown all along 
the Mediterranean. The Mandarin Orange is from China. It 



160 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

was taken to Portugal. Thence the Arabs carried it to Constan- 
tinople. Thence it went to Morocco, and the Tangerine Orange 
results. It is a little Chinese looking fruit, of no special excel- 
lence beyond its value as a curiosity. 

Give me the history of tlie Orange ? 

It originated in Northern India, and the Sanscrit poems call it 
Nagrango. The Hindustani made this Narunjee. The Span- 
iards made this Naranja, and the Arabs Naranj. In the Western 
tongues the n fell away. The Italians called it Arancia. The 
Romans had called it the apple of Media, but it was Latinized 
Atirantium, which agreed well with its golden color. The 
Romance languages made it Arangi, and the English Norange, 
clinging to the Persian word. But like other words in English 
beginning with a consonant, the article an stole away the n — 
that is a Norange became an Orange. (See Townsend's Art of 
Speech.) 

What are Lemons? 

They are another form of Citrus, yellower and sourer than the 
common Orange, In fact they are valued alone on account of 
the large amount of citric acid which may be squeezed out of 
them. This is used for the national drink of lemonade, so 
cooling in the hottest weather. Citric acid is prized as a cure 
or ameliorant of rheumatism, but lemonade should not be drunk 
so steadily as to harm the mucous tract of the body, the acid 
being very strong. 

Where do Lemons come from ? 

Two or three million boxes are imported each year. Their 
value is $4,000,000 or $5,000,000. Lemons are raised in Florida 
and California. The trees are tenderer than Orange trees, but 
the fruit will keep better, and as the supply is always compara- 
tively short, the profit is larger. The tree, too, is one of the 
most fertile of all growths, bearing as many as three thousand 
Lemons in one season. It is, like the Orange tree, a beautiful 
evergreen, with thick regularly formed leaves, but does not 
grow so symmetrically as the Orange tree. It reaches a height 
of twelve feet. 



FRUIT. 161 

Is Lemon a favorite flavor? 

It is. Pieces of the peel are put in puddings, pies and 
liquors. Lemon is served with meats. So necessary is the 
Lemon to epicures that Sidney Smith made a famous joke, 
when he was out of London, by dating a letter u Twenty miles 
away from a Lemon/' The flavor is contained in the oil-sacks 
of the peel. Oil of Lemon and Extracts of Lemon, as sold by 
the trade, all have something to gain chemically before they 
will report the true flavor of a simple piece of Lemon peel. It 
often happens that the turpentine principle rather than the 
citrus principle is secured. At the soda fountains improvements 
in the art of expressing the oil of Lemon are yearly coming into 
vogue, and reinstating the flavor in public esteem. The ice 
cream makers use Lemon scents, and the confectioners put it in 
their candy. 

How are Lemons distributed to the people ? 

They go in the original boxes to the groceries. There the 
housekeeper buys them by the dozen. The street hucksters 
rarely sell them, and then only in closing out stocks, the wagon 
being filled with Lemons. Saloons must always keep them, and 
although the sale of lemonade in saloons is not large, the use 
of the fruit is constant. It is practically imperishable, and 
deservedly enjoys the highest reputation among the people, 
high and low. 

Is Lemon or Orange Peel sold ? 

What is known as Fancy Leghorn Orange Peel and the same 
brand of Lemon Peel come in drums holding twenty-two pounds. 
They sell at the same price. Fancy Leghorn Citron Peel brings 
a price one-third higher. 

How is Extract of Lemon made ? 

As we have suggested, the natural essence of Lemon is not 
wholly soluble in the rectified spirits of wine; but Lemon peel 
may be " digested" in alcohol until the peel is brittle. The 
peel may then be powdered. The best flavor obtainable may 
now be transferred to the alcohol by letting that fluid percolate 
n 



f 62 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

through the powdered peel. This must be carefully kept, or it 
will become the extract of turpentine. 

What is the Lime ? 

It is practically a small Lemon. It is grown in Lemon coun- 
tries. The juice is used for many medicinal purposes, and for 
drinks. Candy tablets strongly impregnated with the sour 
juice are sold at the drug stores. The English would have done 
well to have spelled Lemon with an *. Then the meaning of 
Lime would be more apparent. Lime juice is preferred to 
Lemon juice as a preventive of scurvy in the naval service of 
the world. 

What are Tomatoes ? 

All the English books credit them to South America, but 
Linnaeus has named the fruit Lycopersicum esculentum, which 
would indicate a Persian origin. The Tomato is grown in all 
North American gardens, although it was once considered a hot- 
house plant, and even now must be set out with care. The fruit 
is of many colors and forms, but the large red variety is the one 
of commerce. The Tomato is sliced and eaten raw with vinegar 
or oil and it is stewed. It is sliced and forms a leading material 
in various kinds of pickles. It is the best flavoring for stock 
sauces and meat gravies. 

Describe the canning of Tomatoes. 

As this is one of the leading industries in this line, and as the 
canning of corn, beans, peaches, apples and cherries is done on 
the same lines, we may profitably note the operation at some 
length, once for all. A long low building with steam plant is 
occupied, and many women are employed. The cannery will 
turn out from thirty thousand to sixty thousand cans a day, 
ready for the cars. The Tomato is taken from its bin and put 
in a cylinder which is partly filled with hot water. Through 
this water a screw shaft revolves, which carries the Tomato 
slowly along to the end, lifts it out, and sends it over a slide 
into a pail. This pail, numbered, say 14, goes on a movable or 
traveling table to girl No. 14, who pulls it over to the stationary 
part of her table. The tomatoes can be denuded by a quick 
motion of the hands, and two pails, one with the peeled 



FRUIT. 163 

tomatoes, and the other with the waste, go back on the traveling 
table. The Tomatoes go to their bin and the waste to a vat 
below. The "filler" is a machine with a plunger. It is shaped 
like a coffee-mill — that is a hopper tapers down to the spot 
where the can is placed. The cans go in a chute, and reach this 
spot automatically. The tomatoes are fed into the hopper. 
Down goes the plunger, crushing the tomatoes into the can. A 
knife cuts off the stream of tomatoes, and the can pops out on a 
traveling belt. 

What is the " capper ? " 

It is the soldering machine. Six cans are treated at once, being 
held together by iron clamps. Six syringes project acid on the 
can covers. Hot steel cups or pressers, the size of the can 
covers or plates, descend, and a bar of solder is passed over the 
hot edges of the caps. These, holding the solder or descending 
upon it where it has fallen, make a circular movement, and affix 
the cover hermetically on the can. A vent hole still remains in 
the can. 

Describe the sealing and cooking machine ? 

It is fifty feet long, and has two iron hot water chambers. 
The cans are now placed in trays on a traveling wire belt, which 
goes slowly through a bath of boiling water, which cooks them 
in eight minutes, and expels superfluous fluid. The belts arrive 
at a long table, where the sealers solder the vent-hole by hand. 
The tray full of cans is again set on the traveling belt, and 
descends into a shallow bath of water. If a can leaks, it sends 
up a bubble of water, and the workman locates the leak and 
mends it. Now the belt goes forward into the second hot water 
chamber, where it is half an hour in making its passage, and the 
Tomatoes are thoroughly cooked. Then they dry. 

How arc they labeled? 

The labeling machine is an inclined plane. An iron trough 
is covered with rubber. A can starts at the top. It reaches a 
paste brush which rises out of a bath of paste and wets the can. 
Next, the rolling can goes over a pile of labels turned wrong side 
up, that rises into place by a spring. The can picks up a label 
and rolls itself up in it. Then another paste-brush or roller 



164 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

completes the job by fixing the edges of the label. As the can 
rolls downward, it passes under swinging levers that turn the 
paste daubers in their bath of paste. The can, after it has dried, 
is now ready for the market. 

Is Corn cooked longer ? 

Yes, very much longer. The corn is cut from the cob by 
knives attached to wheels. The " filler " is different and catches 
the silk, nor does it have to cut off the stream, as if it were a 
large fruit like Tomatoes. The peeling of apples, peaches and 
pears also differs with the case in hand, but the perfect organi- 
zation of labor over the old kitchen methods has produced 
wonderful results. 

What are Plums ? 

A well-known fruit of secondary importance. They are of all 
colors and sizes. California offers the most beautiful specimens 
on our markets, although the Green Gage and other eastern 
varieties are worthy of mention with the best. If we call the 
Apricot and Nectarine offsprings of the Peach, we must go 
further to the Plum, for the structures of the fruits are much 
alike. 

What are Prunes ? 

French Plums that have been dried and otherwise cured. The 
crop is a leading one in Southern France. 

What are Dates'! 

They may be called Asiatic Plums. They grow on the Date 
Palm, a typical tree of the tropics. The Date is rich in sugar 
and gum, and is a leading article of food in Barbary, Arabia, 
and Persia. For our market, the Dates are pressed into a mass 
called "adjoue," which may be cut up and sold by the pound. 
The Arabs soak the pits in water and feed them to cattle. [See 
illustration at head of this chapter.] 

What is the Currant ? 

A highly popular, hardy, low shrub, which yields a large quan- 
tity of fruit of various colors — red, white, black, etc. The 
botanical name is Ribes. The little berries hang in clusters like 
Grapes, The household article called jelly is usually considered 



FRUIT. 165 

best when made from Currants. They are made into pies when 
green, and when ripe are eaten with sugar on the table, the 
white ones being best for this use. In the great cities, the season 
is short, the price always good, and the distribution, which used 
to be in drawers, like Figs, is now carried on in small, square 
boxes. Currant jelly is imitated by meat packers, and vast 
quantities of the imitation are put on the market. 

What are Cranberries ? 

An important marshy crop of bright, pink berries, a little 
smaller than cherries. In stewing, these berries turn to the 
deepest crimson, and the tough skins are usually strained away, 
leaving a jam or pure jelly. The American people eat cranberry 
sauce with roast turkey, and there is a prodigious market for the 
product at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The berries are used 
as a regular winter dessert where large numbers of men are 
boarded. The great crops are from Wisconsin, New Jersey and 
Cape Cod. The two shapes are called bell and cherry. Cran- 
berries are packed in barrels and sold by the quart. They keep 
as long as may be necessary, and may be taken as sea-stores. 
The original name was Crane-berry. The high-bush Cranberry 
has no commercial value. The Russians make a wine out of 
Cranberries. 

What are Melons ? 

They are remarkable for the diversity of their size, shape and 
taste, and are divided into ten tribes. It is said that Columbus 
brought them to America. We use two kinds — the watermelon 
and the musk melon. The commercial importance of both is 
great. Atlanta is the centre of the leading watermelon trade, 
and melon trains leave there for all the cities east of the Missouri. 
The garbage attending the consumption of melons in great cities 
is one of the leading problems with which the health authorities 
deal. Canteloupes are generally preferred to the larger musk 
melons. When the timber land of the West was first cleared, 
the melons that grew along with the corn are the boast of the 
generation that is passing away. Fresh watermelons are justly 
famous for their refreshing and health-giving qualities in the 
hottest weather. It seems probable that the melon of the 



166 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Romans was serpent-shaped. The Dotanical name of the great 
tribe of Melons is Cucumis Melo. That is, the melon is a 
Cucumber. The Cucumber, in turn, is a Gourd. From this 
you may judge that the Gourd tribe is worth numbering. 

What is the Citron ? 

It is a melon much resembling some small kinds of water- 
melons. It is mottled like large serpents and grows nearly 
spherical. It is not eaten like the ordinary melons, but is cut 
open, its inner parts thrown away, and the pared rind is pre- 
served in various ways. The rinds of watermelons are similarly 
preserved. When cut in small cubes, after preparation in sugar, 
this fruit is highly edible, and is used in mince pies, cakes and 
candies. 

What is the Gooseberry? 

It is a very familiar but somewhat unimportant relative to the 
Currant in our gardens. The true name is Groiseberry, from 
KroeSy frizzled, or prickly. Gooseberry pies are eaten, but 
Gooseberries are not an article of commerce to any great extent. 

What is the Pineapple? 

It is a well-known but remarkable fruit that comes from the 
tropics. A large cone, weighing from one to six pounds, topped 
with flowery plumes, and surrounded with leaves of the cactus 
order, contains a woody pulp filled with juice of a high and 
desirable flavor. The cone is pared or cut free of its leaves and 
harsh skin, and thin slices of the inside are covered with sugar. 
The fruit is also preserved well in cans. Pineapples are espe- 
cially useful in diphtheria and throat disease, as the juice has a 
cutting and clearing acid. 

What is the Fig? 

Of all our dried fruits, except the Raisin, the Fig easily leads 
in public estimation throughout the northern climate. It is 
cultivated in California, but fresh Figs are not liked as well in 
the Northern States or in England as the dried ones. The Fig, 
in fact, improves with kneading and packing. The best come 
from Smyrna. They are put in thin, wide boxes, and the 



FRUIT. 167 

Turkish word " Eleme," which we see on the finest kinds, means 
"hand-picked." 

What are Cocoa-nuts? 

One of the most serviceable products of the world, furnishing 
to the people of the tropics cloth, food, drink, oil and vessels 
for household use. The nut grows at the top of a beautiful 
palm. It is especially cultivated for export in Ceylon. (See 
chapters on Butter and Soap.) Although cocoa-nuts are seen in 
our fruit stores and on our fruit-stands, we think their use has 
diminished so far as purchase for eating is concerned. But the 
confectioners and bakers use dessicated cocoanut more than 
ever, and it makes its way into many of the pies sold at the city 
lunch-counters. 

Name some other well-known fruits and confections. 

The Paw-paw grows freely, but is not much eaten. It is 
borne on a tree like the Catalpa. Wintergreen berries some- 
times find their way to market. They are red, and the size of 
currants. They grow on a low plant with laurel-like leaves 
that contain the oil of wintergreen, one of the favorite flavors 
and scents. The Pomegranate and the Persimon are fruits that 
are known in the Southern States, and are of the Fig order. 
The Pomegranate is named Punica y implying that it once came 
from Carthage. 



168 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




BRANCH, WITH BLOSSOM OF HORSE-CHESTNUT. 
a f Verticle section of single flower, b, Fruit, c, A single seed, its coat partly removed. 




COCOA-NUT PALM. 

a, Portion nf young spathe with inclosed inflorescence, b, Branch of spadix. c, Smaller 
portion enlarged, showing a female flower below and male flower above, d, Cocoa-nut 
e, husk cut open showing hard endocarp at f, opened to show the single seed. 



TTT' 








W^#/ w /A* leading Nut in America ? 

Probably the Peanut, or Earth-nut, which grows in the ground. 
It is distributed everywhere, and offers to the fruit peddler one 
of his main sources of revenue. Like coffee and cocoanut, 
roasting alters its chemical character for the better. Fresh 
roasted peanuts, deprived of the light, dry, inner husk that 
clothes the meat, are a valuable food. The taste quickly dis- 
covers the stale condition of old or ill-kept goods. Peanuts 
require a warm climate and sandy soil, and North Carolina is 
the greatest producer. They are called Ground-nuts in New 
Jersey and in the East and " Goobers " in the South. Large 
quantities of peanut candy are sold. 

What is the Chestnut? 

This is a nut that comes with the frost. It grows in a burr, 
with two or three nuts together. The tree is large and beautiful, 
but does not bear plentifully west of Ohio, and the Eastern 
States furnish the western market. The Chestnut requires boil- 
ing or roasting. On account of its thin shell, it is easily 
attacked by insects and mould, and soon becomes unmarketable. 
The Italian fruit peddlers, however, roast it on the streets, and 
in its short autumn season the Chestnut outsells the Peanut. 

What are Walnuts and Butternuts? 

These rich nuts grow in green and acidulous husks that never 
freely leave the nut. The trees are among the noblest of the 
forests, and, when given sufficient sunlight, spread into great 

169 



170 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

shade trees. The nuts fall to the ground after frost, and are 
gathered in wagons. Months are required for drying, and then 
the core must be burst with a mallet or hammer. This leaves 
the nut rough. The meat of the Walnut is fat, rich and palat- 
able. The Butternut is a more delicate morsel, but even richer. 
These nuts are the particular luxury of the farm houses on 
winter nights in timbered regions. 

What is the Hickory nut? 

There are two kinds, the shell-bark and the pig hickory. The 
shell-bark hickory is a monarch of the forest, and this hickory 
nut is nearly as large as the walnut. The husk, however, comes 
off in sections. Pig hickory nuts are common and cheap. The 
average American prefers all of these native nuts to those which 
still remain to be be described. The western farmer usually 
spares many pig hickory trees for the sake of his children, who 
get a great deal of good food from this source. 

What is the Hazel-nut ? 

It is the wild Filbert, and may be considered a better nut for 
our uses, because it is in a fresher condition when it reaches us. 
The common shrub of our fence-corners is cultivated with care 
in Europe, and the Filbert of our groceries results. The cluster 
of nuts is remarkable in shape. 

What is the Almond? 

The Almond is related to the Peach, as the wolf is to the dog — 
that is, the nut we eat was surrounded by a pulpy mass resemb- 
ling a Peach. It is a North African tree twenty-five to thirty 
feet high, which has been cultivated along the north shore of 
the Mediterranean. It flowers in the spring and produces fruit 
in August. The best Almonds come from Spain. The Almond 
is ground by bakers and made into the famous Maccaroon, 
which to be good must bend and not break. Almonds are 
served on the banquet table at the close. 

What is the Brazil nut ? 

This magnificent nut does not export well, but the people of 
the Orinoco River are justly proud of their product. The tree 
is one of the tallest and handsomest. As many as fifty of the 




NUTS. 171 

large three-sided black nuts may be contained in a single pod or 
shell, which has six compartments. The meat is full, white, and 
very rich. As the oil both absorbs and ferments easily, the nut 
is rarely in its prime condition on northern tables, but science 
will undoubtedly improve the manner of its distribution. 

What is the English Walnut ? 

It does not resemble the American Walnut very closely, nor is 
it so rich or free from tannin. But it is more easily cracked and 
presents a shell that is less rude and more cleanly. It is there- 
fore to be seen on banquet-tables from which the better native 
nuts are excluded. All the imported nuts lose in taste by their 
voyage and the time that must elapse in distribution. They are 
kept at all groceries, and over ten million pounds of Walnuts 
and Filberts are imported each year. 

What is the Pecan ? 

A Southern or Mexican Hickory-nut. Its shell is a little 
thicker and harder than the shell of a chestnut. The meat is 
in two lobes, long, like a Butternut, less oily, and very full of 
tannin — so much so as to warn the palate. Pecans, however, 
seem to be slowly winning their way in the northern market. 

What is the Pistachio-nut ? 

It comes from Sicily and Syria, and grows on a turpentine 
tree. It is the size of the Filbert, and is remarkable for its 
greenish meat, which colors Pistachio ice cream. 




Spices, Etc 




♦♦ 



W 7 ^/ condiments are nearly always present on our tables? 

Black and red pepper, vinegar, oil and mustard. In city 
restaurants a small dish usually holds grated horse-radish 
in vinegar. Pepper and salt are served in small individual 
metal tubes or boxes. The foreign restaurants serve black 
pepper in a machine which grinds what is needed for the plate. 
Salt cellars are also still in use. 

What is Pepper? 

It grows on a Pepper-vine in Sumatra, Java, Borneo and 
Malaysia. The vines are trained on trees or shrubs, and are 
allowed to grow four years before a crop is gathered. The 

berry grows in the fashion of 
a red currant, on rather longer 
stalks, with the size of the fruit 
tapering to little ones at the 
end of the cluster. The ber- 
ries are gathered green, and 
dried on mats in the sun. This 
turns them black. White Pep- 
per is made by soaking these 
berries until the outer skin peels off. Long Pepper is a product 
of the same vine. Americans use a great deal of Pepper — 
particularly on their meats. 

What is Red Pepper ? 

Red Pepper, called also Cayenne Pepper, is the principal 
condiment in all hot countries. The plants which bear the 

172 




Fig. 64. THE PEPPER PLANT. 



SPICES, ETC. r<3 

various kinds of Red Peppers bear no botanical relation to 
Black Pepper, but are often large triangular red pods. The 
pods may be bottled in vinegar, which will absorb a high degree 
of their pungent property. It is said that even the birds of the 
tropics resort to these vegetables for a tonic that will arouse 
their digestion, and die if they are deprived of this food. Our 
Pepper sauce and Tobasco sauce are made by steeping small 
Red Peppers in vinegar. 

What is Mustard ? 

A very ancient condiment. It was also used by the first 
doctors whose names have reached us. In 1720 Mrs. Clements, 
of Durham, England, invented the present method of preparing 
table Mustard, and having pleased the taste of George I, the 
article attained a popularity it has never lost. The small round 
seeds are ground and the husks are separated from the flour. 
Black and white Mustard are mixed with wheat flour or starch 
in adulteration, and it often happens that such a preparation sells 
best on the market. There is a great consumption of Mustard 
in saloons where free lunches are dispensed, and wherever 
cheese, especially Schweizerkase, is served on the premises. 

What is Horseradish ? 

It is a nasturtium. Its large white roots are sold by the 
vegetable gardeners and farmers, and may be grated at home. 
It is sold in the prepared form. Horseradish is much used on 
raw oysters. It is good for all skin diseases, the Grippe, etc., 
and well liked by all old and experienced people. The leaves 
are frequently eaten as potherbs — or " greens " as we say. 
There is a Horseradish Tree in India, which is another thing. 
Evaporated horseradish is much stronger than the liquid 
preparation. 

What is Ginger ? 

One of the staple condiments of the American kitchen. A pot 
of Canton preserved Ginger or the dried roots themselves will 
best describe their odd shape. The root travels in the ground 
and forms nodes or tubers, which are more tender than the stalk- 
root. For this reason it is called a rhizome. Ginger has a 
similar name in Sanscrit, Greek and Latin, which means " horn- 



174 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 




Fig. 65. CHINESE GINGER 
PLANT. 



shaped." There is a mountain in India called Gingi, because it 
is credited with bearing the first Ginger roots. Although India 

introduced the plant, the best comes 
from Jamaica, and its essence is sold as 
one of our principal hot weather medi- 
cines. 

What is Canton Ginger ? 

A sweet preserve of this bulbous root. 
It is put up in small spherical jars of 
various sizes, and shipped from China. 
It is boiled and cured with sugar. The 
price has cheapened in late years, and 
the demand for it has increased. 

How is Ginger prepared for the kitchen ? 

The plant must grow a year. It is then pulled, scalded, 
peeled, dried in an oven and ground into flour. It is then black 
Ginger. If it is dried in the sun it is white Ginger. The root 
is sold to housewives for use in preserves, such as tomatoes, but 
for use in baking the ground Ginger is nearly always purchased 
and in small quantities. Ginger bread and Ginger cakes form 
an important item in childhood, and are never despised by 
grown people. Ginger is principally starch. Beside its peculiar 
oil, it contains acetic acid, potash, gum and sulphur. 

What is the Clove? 

It has been called the nail by nearly all people who have 
known it. Clove is clavus, nail, in Latin. It is kruidnagel, 
herb-nail, in Danish. The Clove as we see it, is the unopened 
bud of a flower. It grows on a large evergreen tree which Sir 
Stamford Raffles described as " of noble height, somewhat like 
the bay, composing by the beauty of its forms, the luxuriance of 
its foliage, and the spicy fragrance with which it perfumes the 
air, one of the most delightful objects in the world. The odor 
of Cloves is so marked and agreeable, that most people can 
recall it to their imagination, and the faintest trace of its 
presence is detected. In this way, comparatively few trees scent 
the world. 






SPICES, ETC. 175 

How are Cloves prepared? 

They are gathered unripe or unopened, and dried in the sun. 
The round ball is the corolla surrounding the stamens, etc,, and 
the shaft or nail is the calyx tube. The Portuguese discovered 
it on the Molucca Islands in 15 1 1. The Dutch, by cutting down 
trees, tried to restrict the trade, and when the product came too 
fast to Europe, they burned their stores. But despite this 
policy, the cultivation of the Clove began all over the tropics, 
and the Dutch lost their monopoly. 

I see that Cloves never cost so much as Nutmegs and Mace. 

It is because of the extraordinary fertility of the Clove. A. 
tree will live one hundred and fifty years, and when it is full 
grown it will bear sixty pounds of Cloves. The product, there- 
fore, must always be larger than the demand. 

What are the principal uses of the Clove ? 

It comes whole or ground, and our housewives and cooks use 
it in both forms. Cloves are stuck whole into pickled Peaches. 
The ground form is used in mince pies, and even Gingerbread 
is often " proofed " with Cloves. Americans do not like this 
kind of spice in their leading foods. In medicine, the oil of 
Cloves is used for nausea and to stop the toothache by killing 
or benumbing the exposed nerve. Cloves are at hand in all 
drinking-places, and are used for the breath. 

What are Nutmegs and Mace? 

Here we have again a fruit like the Chocolate, Peach, etc. It 
is as large as a Pear, and Pear-shaped. The fruit dries and 
splits in two parts. A nut is exposed. This nut is gathered, 
and dried over a low fire for two months. It is then cracked 
open with a mallet, and the shell is discarded. A sheaf is 
exposed, which is Mace. Next is the Nutmeg. The word is an 
English and French corruption of musk-nut, from Low Latin 
7iux muscata. The Nutmeg is treated in lime to preserve it 
from insects and to sterilize it, but this process is held to be 
unnecessary. 

Where are Nutmegs grown ? 

The Barda Islands furnish nearly all the supplies, and the 
price is kept high. The first Nutmegs came from the Moluccas, 



176 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

along with the Cloves. Like the Cloves, they escaped the Dutch 
into all the tropics, but have not flourished. There are three 
crops in a year, the last in April. Unlike the Tea, the final 
gathering is the best. The Mace is red, but grows yellow in 
baking. The Chinese like their Nutmegs to come in the shell. 
The East Indians also preserve the big pear-like fruit. The 
Nutmegs are assorted, and the little ones are ground and the oil 
of Mace is expressed. It is called Nutmeg Butter. 

Do we use Nutmegs largely ? 

Yes. More Mace comes to the United States than to any 
other nation, and about every fifty inhabitants use a pound of 
Nutmegs in a year. Nutmeg is the favorite flavor for apple 
sauce. The housewife has a small implement which holds a 
Nutmeg and carries with it a grater. This Nutmeg may be 
grated into pies, cakes and puddings. Mace is used in pickling, 
in mince meat, and wherever Cinnamon can be added. 

What is Cinnamon ? 

It is the Kinnamon of the Bible, the Phoenicians and the 
Greeks. Western tongues have softened the C. Our best 




A' 

Fig. 68. BRANCH FROM A CINNAMON TREE. 

qualities go by the name of Saigon in Cochin-China, but the 
plantations of Ceylon are famous over the world, and Cinna- 



SPICES, ETC. 177 

momun Zeylanicum is the name of the small tree from which 
the bark we use, is gathered. Cinnamon bark is peculiar in this, 
that though it imparts its aroma readily to liquids like vinegar, 
it does not soften or grow edible, like Mace. 

Describe a Cinnamon plantation ? 

Open glades of the forest are chosen, as the little trees require 
protection and a rich, light soil. Cinnamon-peeling begins in 
May after the rains, and lasts till November. The bark is slit, 
cut across, and the strip is peeled away. It is then soaked to 
remove the outer rind of bark. It is rolled in quills about three 
feet long, and sometimes smaller quills are pushed inside. The 
air, at cinnamon harvest, is loaded with the pleasant aroma, and 
the harvesters make the season a festival. 

What else may be said of Cinnamon? 

It is notable for the brightness of the red coloring matter it 
contains, as seen in the cinnamon candy drops. There is 
camphor in its roots. Rich men sometimes burned grate fires of 
Cinnamon, as when Charles V came to Fugger's house, and 
Fugger burned the bonds in a Cinnamon fire. The Cinnamon 
fruit yields a fat that was made into candles for the King. 
Cassia is an inferior grade of Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a sharper 
flavor of the same taste as Nutmeg, but it cannot be so truly 
imparted to cookery. In mince pies, in pickles, and in some 
preserves, however, its true value is obtained. Foreign countries 
use it in plain cookery much more than we do. Cinnamon trees 
have left their traces in the Eocene rocks under the soil of 
America. 

What is Allspice ? 

It is Jamaican Pimento. Like Black Pepper, it is a small 
berry, gathered unripe and dried in the sun, but instead of 
growing on a vine, it comes from a small tree that reaches 
twenty feet in height. It contains the flavor of Cinnamon, Nut- 
megs and Cloves, hence its name of Allspice. The flavor is 
less pungent than that of the spices which it resembles. 

What is the Caraway ? 

It is the small aromatic seed of a plant that is cultivated in 

12 



178 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Europe and America. A common form comes from the confec- 
tioner's, where every seed has been surrounded with a rough 
coating of sugar. The Caraway seed is prized in rye bread by 
many foreign races, and many such loaves are seen in America. 
Brewers as well as bakers use the seeds. 

What herb-spices do we use ? 

Sage, Savory, Thyme and Marjoram. These are dried leaves 
and stems, something like Tea, but dried stem and all. Sage is 
put in Sage Cheese. Where meats or fowl are stuffed, one of 
these herbs is nearly always grated into the filling. Mutton and 
turkey, particularly, require expert seasoning of this order. All 
these native dried herbs are sold at our groceries. There are 
many constitutions, however, with which these herbs do not 
accord, whether it be on account of their coarse and insoluble 
nature, or the volatile oils with which they are flavored. 

Describe a Mince-Meat Factory. 

The Mince-Pie which is served in public places to-day, is made 
of a preparation which comes on the market in square boxes of 
twelve ounces each. About fifteen million pounds are used each 
year, mainly in the cold season. The meat is cut in strips and 
boiled in a cauldron jacketed on the inside with steam pipes. It 
then goes to the chopping machine, which has a revolving table 
on which knives play up and down. In a batch of two thousand 
pounds of mince-meat five hundred pounds will be chopped 
beef. On another chopping machine five hundred pounds of 
dried apples are also chopped. A spice-room contains two 
grinders, and here allspice, nutmegs, mace, cinnamon, cloves, 
ginger and pepper are all ground separately and stored in 
barrels. Citron is chopped like the apples. 

How is Mince- Meat mixed? 

The mixing-trough is capable of holding two thousand pounds 
of mince. The five hundred pounds of meat go in first, the five 
hundred pounds of apples next, then layers of chopped citron, 
picked raisins and currants, then a layer of sugar, then fifty 
pounds of mixed ground spices. On top of all a few gallons of 
good apple cider are poured. Now a gang of strong men with 
shovels begin the mixing, which is kept up until the mass is 



SPICES, ETC. 



179 



comparatively dry. Allen's dry mince meat is the standard 
product. The mixture is shoveled into trucks, and stands for a 
certain time. Next it goes on a traveling belt. This passes the 
packing table, where girls, working with their bare hands, fill 
the little boxes. By a motion of the foot, a press comes down 
on two boxes at a time, and the mass is made very compact. 
The lid is put on, the box is put in a pasteboard case, the case is 
wrapped in paraffine paper, and the packers put it in the wdoden 
box for the market. At these factories over three hundred and 
fifty thousand pounds of spices are used. The product finds 
favor in Europe, and is bought by the best Parisian cooks. 




vvwrr" 



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Fig. 67. THE COFFEE MARKET OF PAGER-ALAM, MALAYSIA. 



Coffee, Xtea, Etc 





»%** & Coffee ? 

It is the seed of a red, juicy berry that grows on a small ever- 
green tree. There are two kinds of trees or shrubs, coffea 
Arabica and coffea occidentalism although it is said that the 
plant has varied under domestication,, and that more than three- 
fourths of the world's coffee-trees are the offspring of a single 
plant sent from the Dutch East Indies to the Botanic Gardens 
of Amsterdam, in 1690. Small plants from its seeds were dis- 
tributed in the West Indies. Hence the shrub was transplanted 
to Brazil, and to-day there are six hundred million trees growing 
in Brazil. 

Where does the name come from? 

Probably from Caffa, in Africa, where the shrub grew wild. 
The Turks, who first used it, call it quahuah, pronounced qua- 
vehy but also apply the word to wine, and to a restaurant — as 
we say Cafe, which is French for coffee. 

Where is Coffee chiefly cultivated? 

In South and Central America. At the World's Fair costly 
and beautiful buildings were erected by Brazil, Colombia, 
Guatemala and Nicaragua, in which the culture of Coffee was 
typified^ and its results shown in many interesting ways. The 
South America Coffee, having originally come from Rio Janeiro, 
popularly takes the name of Rio, and sells at about twenty-eight 
cents a pound in the middle West, according to cost of freight. 

181 






182 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



What is Mocha and Java Coffee? 

It comes from Arabia, Java and Ceylon. The berry is fatter 
than the Rio berry, and the aroma rising from the decoction or 
from the ground roasted berry is finer. Less than one-fifth of 
the Coffee used by the non-producing world comes from Asia. 

Why are the Arabian and Javan Coffees so highly prized? 

Because the soil, the frequent rains and the brilliant sunshine 
impart to the plant and to its seed a certain fragrance not 
secured elsewhere. The usual mixture in America, where costly 
Coffee is used, is two-thirds Java and one-third Mocha. As Mocha 
is better liked abroad than in America, it is generally under- 
stood that little genuine Mocha comes over, and that our Mocha 
comes from Javan soil. It may be said that no better Coffee grows 
than that of Java. 

What is the annual production ? 

South and Central America and the neighboring islands ship 
about nine million six hundred and twenty-five thousand bags, 
or one billion, two hundred and seventy million, five hundred 
thousand pounds, valued at $240,625,000. Asia ships one million 
six hundred and twenty-five thousand bags, or two hundred and 
fourteen million, five hundred thousand pounds, valued at 
$48,750,000. Europe takes about six-tenths of this production, 
and the United States consumes far more than any other other 
nation. On the Coffee market, the Cl Rio" grades are known as 
Rio, Mexican, Maracaibo^ Santos and Guatamalan. 

What is the history of Coffee ? 

A manuscript in the National Library at Paris, states that 
Coffee was known in 875, A. D. An Arab writer remarks that 
Coffee was brought to Arabia from Abyssinia about 1500, A. D. 
by a learned and pious Sheikh. It is from the port of Mokha, 
in Yemen, that the berry was first shipped generally to the 
world, and it is said that none of the picked berries of this true 
Mokha get out of Moslem countries. Mokha enjoyed the Coffee 
trade of the world for two hundred years. When coffee-houses 
reached Constantinople, about 1550, they excited religious oppo- 
sition, as was the case also when they extended into Christian 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC 



183 



capitals. The first London coffee-house was opened by a 
Greek, Pasqua Rossie, in 1650, so that it took a hundred years 
to get from the Golden Horn to the Thames. Twenty-five years 
later Charles II, issued a royal edict against public coffee-houses, 
as breeding-places of sedition. It may thus be deduced that the 
Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, Mass., and the Cavaliers at Balti- 
more knew nothing of Coffee. This was true as well of Tea and 
Cocoa, for all three came to Europe nearly together. 

Describe the culture of Coffee. 

Sloping hillsides above the sea are the best places for coffee 
orchards. The seeds — that is, Coffee — are first sown in a nur- 




Flg.6& THE COFFEE PLANT and its iwk 

SCry, and when the plants arc a foot high they are set out-doors 

in rows about six feet apart. If left untrimmed, the shrub 



184 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



would grow to a height of twenty feet, but it is trimmed to 
eight feet, the branches being trained out laterally. The 
orchard, when in full bloom, is white and fragrant, and lives 
nearly fifty years. Doubtless the fame of the Arabian coast as 
a land of fragrance arose from the presence on its hills of the 
Mokha plantations. 

What follows the white flower ? 

A bright red berry, resembling a cherry, with a pulpy body 
and two pits in a pod or cyst. These berries group themselves 
close to the stalk. These pits are the Coffee. The bushes bear 
good berries the third year. These are picked and fed into a 
machine, which separates the pits. The wet pits are spread on 
frames to dry, and the cyst or pod, which is very light, is beaten 
or winnowed off. Children sort the pits or bean as the Coffee is 
called, and it is then ready for the big bags which we see in 
groceries. A tree will yield from one to three pounds of Coffee, 
so that there must be nearly a billion coffee-shrubs in existence 
and under cultivation. 

How does Coffee reach the consumer? 

It takes about thirty-five days for a consignment of Coffee to 
reach Chicago from Rio de Janeiro, and the freight is about 
sixty cents a bag of one hundred and thirty-two pounds. It 
arrives at the wholesale warehouse in coarse gunny sacks, and 
goes to the top of the building, like the wheat in a 
flour-mill, where it is stored in bins. Along one side of the 
room is a row of roasters. These roasters are ingeniously moving 
hollow cylinders, with many little holes. These cylinders, when 
loaded with raw Coffee, revolve and twist slowly over a furnace 
fire, which is controlled by an air blast. All the grains are 
roasted alike, and the heat is cut off at the proper moment. 
Each variety of Coffee grown on earth requires a different 
amount of roasting, and the master-roaster is an expert of the 
highest order. 

How is it served to the groceries ? 

It is now customary for the grocer to grind the Coffee for the 
purchaser, who buys only small quantities at a time. The 
aroma departs rapidly from the best ground Coffee, and some 




Plg.QO. A OOPF£E ESTATE IN CEYLON, 



186 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

coffee-drinkers require fresh-ground Coffee each day. The whole- 
sale manner in which Coffee is now roasted, has improved the 
average quality, which for many decades was bad in both 
America and Great Britain. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876, 
where Vienna bread and Coffee were for sale at high prices, 
awakened a keen desire for progress in the art of preparing this 
beverage. 

Hoiv may Coffee be served the. on table? 

The scientists say it should not be boiled, nor should any 
foreign substance, such as egg, be added. The least economical 
method is by infusion — pouring hot water through the grounds. 
Excellent Coffee can be made by a decoction begun in cold water. 
Let the grounds and water be surrounded with boiling water — as 
glue is cooked. As soon as the grounds have settled to the 
bottom the Coffee is ready for the table, and the sooner it is used, 
the better. The older the unroasted Coffee, the better, like wine. 

What is the effect of Coffee as a drink? 

It stimulates the nerves and blood vessels. It has a slightly 
greater food value than Tea. It acts adversely on the liver and 
kidneys, and is so powerful as a nerve tonic as to be unsafe as a 
beverage where sleep is not easy to obtain at all hours. It should 
be only moderately drunk. 

Has it any other use ? 

Yes. It is a valuable disinfectant, and for that reason the 
roasting of Coffee at home is a good thing. Freshly ground 
Coffee will correct the odor of damp places, and even the boiling 
of Coffee in a house improves the condition of the air. 

With what substance is Coffee adulterated? 

Chiefly with chicory, or succory. The roots of this plant are 
dried, roasted and ground with Coffee. This is done largely in 
Europe, where a taste for chicory has been cultivated. There 
is not much chicory in Western America. Our clever adultera 
tors sell what they call "cerealized coffee/' that is, it has been 
mixed with rye or other grain that roasts somewhat like Coffee. 

What other adulterations are practised? 

Coffee foundries have been established, where the bean is 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC. 



187 



cast from various substances, the form of Coffee being simulated. 
These cast coffees are then boiled in the extract of Coffee, and 
colored, and when the product is mixed with ordinary genuine 
Rio, the cast bean or berry is perhaps the one that would be 
least suspected. These practices flourish best at times when a 
world-wide speculation in Coffee is going forward, when the 
price of the crop is advanced several cents a pound. 

Can you name an American authority 071 Coffee? 

Francis J. Thurber, of New York City, one of the best known 
grocers of the United States, has written a book of four hundred 
and sixteen pages, entitled "Coffee, from Plantation to Cup," 
well illustrated. This covers the subject, and the author writes 
from personal experience. 

What is Tea? 

It is, with Coffee, one of the two principal drinks of Americans. 
While men usually prefer Coffee, women are inclined to Tea. 




* : '&Si/- ™ 



Fig. 70. Tin: TEA PLANT. 

Tea, as we buy it, is the dried and broken leaves of an evergreen 
shrub which grows best in China, but also in Japan, India, Cey- 



188 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

Ion, and many other parts of Asia. The plant grows from four 
to six feet high, and bears white blossoms that resemble wild 
roses. 

What beautiful flower is a close relative of Tea ? 

The Camellia. Linnaeus established two kinds of Tea — Thea 
Bolica and Thea viridis (green), but the English learned, in 
1843, that both black and green Tea are made indifferently from 
each plant. A big Tea tree has been found in Assam, which 
botanists think is the parent species of all cultivated varieties. 

Is Tea a hardy plant? 

Yes. It may be likened to wheat in that regard. It is cul- 
tivated in Japan as far north as thirty-nine decrees of latitude, 
and southward through Java, India, Ceylon, South Africa, 
Australia and Brazil. But the climates that best conduce to 
its growth are the most fatal to Europeans. 

Describe a Tea-Farm or Garden ? 

The methods of the Chinese have been altered by the Indian 
cultivators, but the fame of the Chinese Tea is undiminished, 
and all other offerings, however highly extolled by their manu- 
facturers, fail to meet the popular demand. Good as is the 
Chinese Tea, the very best never goes outside of China, and the 
second best goes only to Russia, and is exported through the 
northern gates of the Great Wall. The tea-farm is usually 
small, on the sloping side of small hills, far from the mouth of 
the river. The seeds are planted, and the shrub grows three 
years before any leaves are plucked. The shrub is now estab- 
lished and throws out young shoots or "flushes" in profusion. 
A garden will contain about fifteen hundred plants to the acre, 
and about three hundred pounds of finished Tea will be produced. 

How are the leaves plucked? 

By hand. The Tea of each leaf has a name. The little leaf on 
the tip of the shoot is flowery pekoe (from pak-ho f white hairs); 
the next larger leaf is orange pekoe; the next, still a tender leaf, 
is pekoe; the next is pekoe souchong (from siaoti-chung, little 
plant); the next is souchong, the next is congou (from Kung-fu y 
labor); and if there be a still larger leaf on the shoot, it is bohea, 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC. 189 

(from wu-i, the mountains in Fuh-keen). These shoots will 
come out four times a year. The most fragrant picking is the 
first, in April, which is hyson (from yu-tsien, before the rains, or 
from Tu-chun, flourishing spring). Other pickings follow in 
May, July and August or September, the latest being the poor- 
est. Oolong means black dragon, and other names usually ap- 
ply to the region of growth, for the souchong of one province 
may be as sweet as the pekoe of another. 

What are the commercial names of Tea? 

They are Chinese appellations, sometimes translated, but 
usually merely imitated in soundo The great grades of Tea are 
four — black, green, brick and perfumed. 

How are these grades subdivided? 

The blacks are named after the size of the leaf — that is, the 
three pekoes, the two souchongs, congou and bohea. The greens 
are called gunpowder, imperial hyson, young hyson, hyson skin 
and caper. There are black and green scented Teas and two 
sizes of bricks in brick Tea. 

How is black Tea prepared? 

The leaves of the shoots are all plucked together and exposed 
to the sun and air on circular trays. Here a slight fermentation 
takes place. The sugar of the leaf unites with a volatile oil. 
There is a loss of tannic acid. The leaves become flaccid, and 
are spotted with red or brown. By the odor arising, the tea- 
maker knows just when to begin the roasting which the leaves 
undergo, for it is to be understood that the alkaloid principle for 
which the human race craves, is nearly the same in Tea, Chocolate 
and Coffee, and is obtained in all cases by the action of fire 
and from evergreen trees or shrubs. After the roasting in an 
iron vessel, the hot leaves are kneaded or rolled in the hands, 
and juices are squeezed out. Finally, when they have been 
several times manipulated, the leaves are dried in sieves over a 
charcoal fire, and in this last stage, but owing to the hand man- 
ipulation, they turn black. 

Hozv is green Tea prepared ? 

There is no drying in the sun. The leaves are hurriedly 



190 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

placed in the iron vessel, then rolled in the hand, and then dried 
in the same iron vessel, but constantly stirred and fanned. The 
green color follows as a result of this rapid evaporation, no al- 
teration taking place in the essence called chlorophyll. This Tea 
is not exported. The green tea sent out of China is colored 
with gypsum and Prussian blue. 

How is brick Tea prepared? 

It is made of broken leaves, stalks and fragments of large 
leaves. This is a staple article of family use in an area of 
Central Asia larger than Europe. Sometimes it is slightly 
pressed and packed in skins, but often it is solidly cast or pressed 
into hard cakes, with gilt characters on the side, like India ink 
cakes. The tribes of Central Asia stew brick Tea in milk with 
salt and butter, and eat it as a vegetable. Great quantities go 
with the yearly Asiatic caravan, from Pekin to Moscow. Brick 
Tea also serves as money over a vast region. 

How is scented Tea prepared? 

The finished Tea, either black or green, is mixed with odorif- 
erous flowers until the Tea has taken up the perfume. It is then 
sifted and immediately packed and excluded from the air. 

Is pekoe made only of the tender est leaves ? 

Not exactly. The finished Tea is sifted, and the .qualities are 
named rather according to the size of the fragments than in any 
other way. Many pieces of souchong can thus enter the pekoe. 

Docs adulteration thrive ? 

Not since the success of the Indian tea farms. It is as cheap to 
fabricate from the tea-plant as from any other herb, and the 
customs authorities at London and Liverpool are very expert in 
the detection of fraud. But the finer the alleged grade of Tea, 
the stronger is the inducement to cheat. It is also to be averred 
that the brands of Tea thrown on the market from the new tea- 
farms, are grossly inferior to the average supply that used to come 
from China. 

What commercial brands of Tea are sold in America ? 
Six different qualities and prices of Basket Fired Japan, Sun 
Cured Japan, Moyune (Amoy), Gunpowder, Assam, Young Hy- 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC. 191 

son, Oolong and Orange Pekoe, Monsoon, white or yellow label, 
and the new Ceylon Teas. Various other Teas with special 
names of no significance are offered. It is to be seen that the 
finest Pekoe grades do not come to market. 

What is the history of Tea ? 

Strangely enough, Marco Polo, our first historian or observer 
of Chinese ways, does not mention Tea. In China, the name is 
Cha, but the Amoy dialect has it Tee, whence English merchants 
got the name which survived, although it was first known at 
London as Cha or Chaw. All agricultural and medicinal know- 
ledge is assigned, in China, to the traditional Emperor Chin- 
nung, who reigned in 2737, B. C, and he discovered the virtues 
of Tea. A Chinese writer named Lo Yu, who doubtless lived 
under the Tang dynasty, 618 to 906, A, D., says of Tea, that "it 
tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude 
and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, 
lightens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive 
faculties/' 

When did Tea reach Europe ? 

It came back as the result of Vasco's voyage around Cape 
Good Hope, but the Portuguese did not take kindly to the bev- 
erage. When the Dutch Company was set up, trade began in 
earnest, for the officers of the company were not slow to ac- 
quire the habit of drinking Chaw. When Tea first came to Eng- 
land, it sold at from $30 to $50 a pound. In September, 1658, 
the following notice appears in the Mercurius Politicus: "That 
excellent and by all Physitians approved China Drink, called by 
the Chineans Tcha, by other nations, Tay, alias Tec, is sold at 
the Sultaness Head, a coffee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the 
Royal Exchange, London." Old Pepys drinks Tee in his cele- 
brated diary, and in six years' time has it at home, as a medicine 
for his wife's cold. 

Was Tea-drinking opposed? 

Yes. With the same arguments that went against Coffee. It 
was called a base, unworthy Indian practice. The doctors as- 
sailed it as the cause of hypochondriac disorders. But in the 
end it fastened on the northern countries with a greater hold than 



192 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Coffee has attained. It is the great Russian drink, and the 
Russians excel in the convenience, elegance and skill with 
which they prepare it. In fact, their apparatus is at last to be 
seen in many parlors of America. 

What great change took place in the Tea-trade of America ? 

The opening of the Pacific Railroad in the United States put 
the middle west directly into connection with China and Malay- 
sia, and now the fine wheat flour of our Pacific coast goes to 
China in exchange for good Tea, and the tea-gardens of Ceylon 
and India are finding wide markets in the Mississippi Valley. 

What is Chocolate? 

Chocolate is the Mexican name of the cacao-tree, and Cocoa 
and Chocolate are two commercial preparations of the same 
substance — cocoa or cacao beans. 

Where does the Cocoa tree grow ? 

The best grows in Venezuela, and is shipped from Caraccas. 
All the tropical countries produce the tree. 

How is the Cocoa Bean secured ? 

The tree looks like a young cherry tree, but it bears a sort of 
cucumber, with ten ribs, of a yellowish red color. In the pulp 
of this fruit are twenty or thirty nuts called beans, like almonds, 
of ash gray color. Inside the nut-shell are two meaty lobes, 
called nibs, from which Cocoa and Chocolate are made. The 
shell is more easily broken than an almond shell. 

Describe a Cocoa plantation. 

The small cocoa trees, from nurseries, are planted between 
rows of food-yielding trees, for the plants require shade. The 
cocoa trees are seven or eight years in coming to their growth, 
but one man can attend to an orchard of one thousand trees. 
The fruit is gathered in June and December. Only a pound 
and a half of seeds can be taken from one tree. The tree 
grows wild, also, and the wild fruit is marketable. There must 
be frequent rain, and the soil must be moist all the time. 

How is the fruit gathered? 

The trees carry buds, flowers and fruit in all stages at the 
same time. In Caraccas there is the crop of St. John and the 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC. 1M 

Christmas crop. The workman, armed with a long pole, on 
which is a knife, shears, or a prong, selects only the pods that 
are fully ripe. The pod is from seven to ten inches long. The 
stem is leathery. The nuts or beans lie in rows in a delicate 
pink acid pulp. The pods are gathered into heaps on the ground 
and left for twenty-four hours. They are then cut open and 
the seeds are taken out and drained of the moisture of the 
pulp. They are carried in baskets to the sweating-box. 

Then they are to be treated like Coffee and Tea before they go 
to market ? 

Yes. Fermentation without great heat is desired, and some- 
times, instead of the box a trench is dug and clay is thrown on 
the mass. But whether the sweating take place in box or 
trench, the mass must be often stirred. It is in the Caraccas 
orchards that the greatest skill is used in securing the proper 
degree of fermentation, which in favorable weather can be 
finished in two days. When the nuts are exposed to the sun, the 
best ones take on a warm reddish tint. 

How does Chocolate reach a great city ? 

In bags of nuts with the shells on. The nuts go to the top 
floor of the chocolate factory, where they are roasted with as 
much care as Coffee. The roaster is a cylindrical machine which 
turns slowly over a coal fire. The nuts must have just so much 
heat, and must be cooled in an exact manner, or their flavor 
becomes inferior. 

Where are the greatest Chocolate Factories ? 

In Holland, and it is said that the Caraccas output does not 
come largely to America. But the great chocolate makers of 
the world erected buildings at the World's Fair of 1893, and by 
their operations stimulated the demand for high priced goods. 

What is the cracker-and-fanner? 

It is the machine to which the roasted nuts go. This is a 
loosely-set grinder in a fanning-mill. As the nut goes through 
the iron disks, its light shell is broken off, the air blast sends 
the shells out of the way, and the meats or nibs fall in a box 
below. 



19 4 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Are the nibs ground ? 

Yes. They ^re fed into a hopper and travel to the mill on trie 
first floor. Here the nibs pass between grinding-stones, and a 
thick chocolate paste results. This is " premium" Chocolate. 
It is stirred in kettles, cast in caken, and wrapped in tin foil for 
the market. 

How is Cocoa Butter made ? 

The chocolate-paste from the grinding mill is treated like the 
oleomargarine. It is formed into little cakes wrapped in canvas, 
and layers of these are stacked under a hydraulic press. (See 
Oleomargarine.) The cocoa bean or nut is over half fat, and 
all this fat comes away. 

What use is made of this Cocoa Butter? 

It is used by confectioners and for the very finest grades of 
soap. The American factories cannot supply the demand, and 
over 2,000 tons are imported each year. 

What is Cocoa ? 

It is the residue after the oil has been expressed. The little 
cakes, taken from the press, are broken with a mallet and are 
ready to be ground again. Now instead of a paste, a fine flour 
is secured. For drinking purposes, this flour is packed in tin 
boxes, and is ready for the grocery. If it is for the candy- 
maker, the flour goes to a mixer, where after sugar and flavor 
have been added, the mass goes through rollers. Cocoa is 
preferred as a drink because the average consumer cannot 
tolerate so much oil as Chocolate contains. 

Is Chocolate also sweetened and flavored? 

Nearly always, in Europe; less frequently in the American 
factories. The little cakes from Holland and Paris, that are so 
tastefully wrapped, are prepared by secret formulas, and coated 
with cocoa butter. Heat, cold, sugar and perfume play impor- 
tant parts in the processes. Hot rooms and refrigeratories 
change the temperature of the mass rapidly. For confectioners, 
the American manufacturers make up raw bricks of ten pounds 
each. 



COFFEE, TEA, ETC. 195 

How did Cocoa get its botanical name of Theobroma ? 

Linnaeus had eaten the seeds, and knew the possibilities of 
Chocolate as a food. He honored it with a name which meant 
food for the gods, from the Greek Theos> god, and bromos, food. 

Do Americans use Chocolate largely ? 

Yes, but as a confection. About 50,000,000 pounds of Choco- 
late are consumed annually, and 10,000,000 pounds of Cocoa are 
bought for drink. Coffee and Tea remain the prime favorites, 
and the people refuse to detect in Cocoa the principle or 
stimulant which theyfind in the two other drinks. Yet chemistry 
reports a surprising likeness between the alkaloids of all three. 
For pulmonary complaints, where digestion remains fair, 
experiment should be carefully carried on with Chocolate, on 
account of the large ratio of fat which it carries. 





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S i^i j^ts. yT\_yr\ yT\ yr\ yf\ yT^.-^v^yrv.^ /TX. J^\ -*^v 

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What changes have taken place in the production of animal 

The business has fallen into the hands of a few firms. Refri- 
gerating cars and ships are made to carry fresh meat to any 
distance, and prepared or pressed meats are delivered at all the 
inns of Europe and America. Ham, turkey, chicken and other 
meats are potted and sold in cans. Turkey and chicken are 
canned in slices. But the great staple of this kind is doubtless 
pressed corned beef. 

Wht : the greatest sources of tins manufacture ? 

At Chicago, in the Union Stock Yards, although branch-houses 
have been established in all the large Western cities. The 
Stock Yards are in the south-western quarter of Chicago, and are 
bounded by Halsted street on the East, Ashland avenue on the 
west, Fortieth street on the north and Forty-seventh street on 
the south. The great community that grew up about this 
industry was long known as the Town of Lake. Dexter Park 
was at the Stock Yards in early days, and here the horse Dexter 
made his fastest time of 2:17^, 

How are Sn laughter edt 

At the leading packing establishments you are furnished a 
uniformed guide. He takes you to the pork house first. The 
Swine are brought into the room in a pen mounted on low 
wheels, a dozen animals at a time. A man seizes a hog by the 
hind leg and loops on a small steel chain. The chain is 
in 



MEAT, ETC. 197 

connected with an overhead railway, and the animal is instantly 
suspended head downward. Thus hanging, his throat is cut, 
the blood flows from the carcass, and it passes into the cleaning 
machine, where knives takeoff nearly all the bristles. Again 
the carcass is suspended, and it is ready for cutting. In three 
minutes from the time the hog was caught, its meat is boxed for 
delivery. 

How are Beeves killed? 

Next you are taken to the beef-killing building. Here is 
where the steer called Judas operates. He leads the company 
of cattle to the movable pens, and as they pass in he returns to 
secure further recruits. Each slaughter-house has a Judas. 
The movable pens come into the room with only two victims at 
a time. Their heads are forced into position and a terrific blow 
with a steel hammer is dealt between the eyes. Instant insen- 
sibility follows. The animal is suspended, and passes rapidly 
before the various butchers, who do the work apportioned to 
them with great skill and speed. The carcass is laid down in 
order to remove the hide, again hung, cut in halves, and travels 
onward to the cooling rooms by means of the overhead railway. 

I have heard that the Jews must kill their Beeves separately. 

Yes. The victim must be examined, approved and killed by 
a Rabbi, or priest. The guide will take you to the Hebrew 
department. Here you see a low, heavy-set man, with a long 
beard and a solemn air. The animal to be slaughtered is 
brought into the room by a long rope, which passes through a 
steel ring fastened firmly in the floor. As the rope is drawn 
tightly, the animal's head is pinioned fast to the floor. Another 
rope is attached to one hind-leg. The Rabbi has now thor- 
oughly washed and re-sharpened his huge knife. He approaches, 
and with one stroke cuts the jugular veins. The carcass is 
then hung. Swine are kept as far as possible away. 

How are Sheep killed ? 

Just before you see the Rabbi, you go to the large room 
where mutton is prepared for the market. The process is 
similar to the hog-killing. In removing the pelt, care is taken 



19 8 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

that the wool do not touch the meat. The carcass is washed 
and tagged. 

How many animals are thus killed at Chicago ? 

About 2,500,000 beeves and calves, nearly 500,000 swine, and 
over 1,500,000 sheep each year. In an establishment such as we 
have described, there can be killed in one day, 11,000 swine, 
4,500 cattle and 2,500 sheep. Nothing is wasted, meat, glue, 
beef extract, butterine, tallow, pepsin and fertilizer are the 
principal products. The horns are polished for ornamental 
furniture. 

What are Cow-boys ? 

The popular name for the herders of the West. Cattle for 
many years were driven in vast herds across the plains, follow- 
ing a beaten path from Texas to Montana. The cattle were 
branded with the owner's mark, and the round-up showed how 
each proprietor's property stood. Animals without a brand 
were known as " mavericks." The cow-boys rode horses or 
ponies called broncos, a California name. A man who could 
train a young or wild bronco was called a bronco-buster. 
Eastern and European people have become familiar with this 
class through the Wild West Shows of the last twenty years. 
(See "The Story of the Cow-Boy/' by E. Hough. D. Appleton 
&Co.) 

Was this meat-raising business controlled! 

So it was alleged. Although the cattle-ranchers of the West 
complained of low prices, it was many years before there was a 
decline of price in meat, and Congress made several investiga- 
tions. Foreign governments have regarded the growth of 
American meat industries with jealousy, and have alleged many 
reasons for cutting off the trade. At last, the President was 
authorized by Congress to retort. If our meats were debarred, 
he was to prohibit the entrance of the leading article of that 
nation's commerce. This did some good, but difficulties still 
menace the trade. We export a vast amount of pork and lard. 
Our cured hams go all over the world. 



iL pickles, \t)meoar t lEtc.^ 







>ToToT< 

P^ieK)!eioieK)i©ie!eieieie^ 

TTTTTT 







■» « C^fl M PL 3 » » 



Where are the largest Pickle Factories ? 

In Pittsburg, Pa. It is said that one establishment bottles 
nearly five billion cucumbers each year. The Pickle Factories 
establish salting houses in the cucumber districts, and the 
vegetable gardeners carry wagon loads to great cylindrical 
vats. The cucumbers are put in brine, and sometimes tank cars 
carry them eastward. Some of the Western cities pack these 
pickles in barrels, but even this class of work is largely done 
eastward of Chicago. 

What takes place at the Factory ? 

The salted pickles are washed in warm running water, and 
so treated that they will keep their green color. They next are 
poured into a very odd-looking sorting machine. Imagine a 
revolving shaft placed at an incline toward the floor. On the 
first part of the shaft put a very large cage with bars near 
together. As the cucumbers revolve in this cage the littlest 
ones fall out ; the bigger ones pass onward toward a second 
cage with larger intervals between the bars. A third cage lets 
out cucumbers a size larger, and at the end, the biggest ones 
come out together. Thus, beside the machine, four baskets are 
filling at once. 

How arc the cucumbers bottled t 

They now pass at once to rows of girls at tables, who use 
a pair of slim wooden tongs. With these they arrange the 
cucumbers around the sides of the bottles in even rows. 
After this careful arrangement, the vinegar and spices are 



200 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



poured in, according to the formula of the factory. The bottle 
is then corked and covered with tin foil. The label is put on 
by girls in another room. Sweet pickles are made by pouring 
into the bottle a sweet liquid. 

Are other vegetables pickled at these factories ? 

Yes. Small onions, cauliflower, small tomatoes, beans and 
other products. For this purpose many steam kettles are used, 
and gardens are maintained for the production of choice goods 
and special sizes. The smallest cucumbers, made originally in 
imitation of the French, are popularly called " Tiny Tims," and 
are considered a delicacy. They are pickled sweet. 

Are there Catsup Factories? 

Yes. The waste from the tomato canneries was once utilized, 
but later the tomato was boiled to a pulp, passed through 
sieves, spiced, mixed, bottled and labeled. The manufactured 
catsup closely resembles the home product, but is usually of a 
lighter red color, without seeds. Although we usually mean 
tomato catsup when we use the word catsup, there are catsups 
made of grapes, currants, goeseberries, cucumbers, peppers 
(Tobasco sauce), mushrooms, walnuts, etc. The word came 
from the East Indies, and is variously spelled. It properly 
applies to any hot sauce. 

What is Chow Chow ? 

It is a preparation of pickles with the addition of mustard, 
which in China is held in high esteem. Cauliflower is the 
leading or conspicuous ingredient, with cucumbers. All the 
spices may be added, to which mustard gives the characteristic 
yellow color. Chow Chow came with the Union Pacific 
Railroad and the Chinese to America, and has been accepted as 
one of the national sauces. 

In fact , all vegetable things may be pickled ? 

Yes. Although the cucumber leads, various fruits and veg- 
etables are preferred in different parts of the country. As we 
go southward, red pepper grows in importance as an adjunct, 
for climatic reasons. 



PICKLES, VINEGAR, ETC. 



201 



All this is done with Vinegar. I am interested to know 
something of this wonderful liquid. 

Vinegar, as a word means sour or sharp wine, and comes from 




Fig. 71. TWITCHELL'S APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING 
THE STRENGTH OF VINEGAR. 



the French (vin aigre). It is best known to the masses of our 
people as sour cider. However it be made, it is the commonest 
form of acid. 

What is an Acid? 

In common terms, to be an acid the substance must dissolve 
in water ; it must taste sour; it must have the power to turn 
vegetable blues to red ; it must have the power to decompose 
carbonates with effervescence as the carbonic acid leaves ; it must 
counteract the alkalis, at the same time turning to salts itself. 



202 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Acetic acid (which is Vinegar) is composed of water, oxygen, 
carbon and hydrogen. 

Still I do not know what Acid is* 

Nearly all human knowledge, when thus brought to bay, 
must confess that it cannot go further. As we have said con- 
cerning the action of rennet in cheese, we know it does it just 
so, but why we do not know, nor have the cheese-makers found 
anything else that ferments the cheese in as good a way as 
rennet. That may be " personal error " or prejudice, or truth. 
But men, as in the case of Electricity and Darwinism, are 
compelled to erect working theories, and chemists frequently 
accept Gerhardt's theory that acids are always salts of hydrogen, 
and are always desirous to give up their hydrogen for a metal. 
[See Chemistry.] 

Thus we come to an Electric phase of the question ? 

Yes. You may refer to plus and minus in the chapter on 
Electricity. Acid is Electro-negative, and is borne to the 
positive pole in a battery. Gerhardt believed that some 
materials of acids displaced one atom of hydrogen, some two 
atoms, some three. In this way he accounted for the three 
forms or more of phosphoric acid. He grouped the acids into 
three great types — water acids, hydrochloric acids, and ammonia 
acids. Owing to this Electric-negative condition of Vinegar, it 
may be seen how greedily such a metal as copper or lead would 
be attacked, and as the matter given up by the copper or lead 
would be a poison, a cucumber preserved in a vessel of such 
metal would be full of the poison. As the copper makes a green 
color, a pickle that is not green certainly has no copper in it, 
although there may be no copper in a green colored pickle. 

What wonderful thing is it that keeps the cucumber from 
decomposing ? 

Various theories are held. Oxygen, the most plentiful 
element in nature, is negative and goes toward the cucumber, 
oxidizing it, or rusting it. Pasteur demonstrated that the 
oxygen was here aided by microbes, and that decay would be 
extremely slow or perhaps impossible where microbes were 



PICKLES, VINEGAR, ETC, 203 

excluded. In water, where there is not so much oxygen, the 
process is one rather of solution than what we call decay. But 
possibly the minute organisms are aiding in the action. Now 
acid is hostile to life germs. The attack of the acid on the 
entire structure of the cucumber is energetic, and the result is 
this — that we entirely lose the taste of the vegetable, and find 
ourselves eating cells that are apparently nothing but acetic 
acid. This acid dissolves the starchy and fatty food in our 
stomachs, destroys germs and, moderately used, gives good 
results. It is likely that our race, or a good part of it, craves 
sour things because of the need of destroying the bacilli that 
might otherwise overcome the life of the human tissues. 

How do we obtain our Vinegar ? 

Wine was the first material. The wine stood till it was sour. 
Apples were our great source in earlier days, and cider Vinegar 
is still considered the best and safest for table use. The barrels 
of cider stood in the cellar, and sometimes M mother M was added 
from old Vinegar, and thus the fermentation was hastened. 

What kinds of Vinegar do we have now-a-days ? 

Red-wine Vinegar, the strongest and costliest ; cider Vinegar, 
the most popular; white wine Vinegar, which does not come 
from wine at all, the common form for use at the pickle 
factories. 

Describe the manufacture of white wine Vinegar ? 

Corn and rye arrive in cars and go to the top of the Vinegar 
Factory, where they are stored in bins. A spout leads from the 
bin to the boiler far below. This is a closed steam cauldron, 
which carries a pressure of about sixty pounds. Into this vessel 
about one hundred bushels of shelled corn descend, and water is 
added. In two hours it is a mush or mash, and is blown in a 
tube upstairs into the mash-tubs, which hold eight thousand 
gallons each. Now fifty bushels of malt are added. 

What is Malt ? 

It is barley or other grain steeped in water until it germinates, 
then dried in a kiln, evolving the sugar ; or it may come wet 



204 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



and finely ground to the mash-tubs. The mass of mash and 
malt is now agitated by revolving paddles, at a temperature of 
one hundred and forty-eight degrees. The cooking of the corn 
in the boiler separated the starch; the addition of the malt and 
the warmth turns the starch to sugar, and there is a sensation 
of the presence of molasses. After several hours of churning, 
certain pipes in the bottom of the vat are filled with cold water, 
and the yeast is added. 

What is the Yeast ? 

A copper-lined kettle holding two hundred gallons is filled 
with malt, rye and water and the mass is boiled. A yeast 
ferment is added, and soon the big two hundred gallon yeast is 
made. This big yeast is " planted" in the mash-vat, and the 
whole body is passed in pipes to the fermenting tanks, where 
for seventy-two hours the sugar " works " and the alcohol is 
liberated. A link-pump now carries the mash to the still up 
stairs. Steam is forced through the mash and into the still. 
As the alcohol goes with the steam into a pipe that passes 
through the still, cold water on the outside of the pipe 
condenses the alcohol and it runs down the pipe into a vessel. 
The mash now is ready for the cattle that eat it. 

What is next ? 

The generators. These are tall wooden tanks or leaches, filled 
with beech shavings. As water goes through ashes and makes 
lye, by percolation, so the alcohol is now to percolate through 
the shavings. But the chemical change that takes place here is 
owing to the oxidation of the alcohol, and the shavings are only 
for the purpose of offering the widest surface for the oxygen of 
the air to reach the alcohol. When alcohol and oxygen meet, 
acetic acid or Vinegar is the result. Several floors are covered 
with generators. The alcohol trickles in at the top; the Vinegar 
trickles out at the bottom of each tank. It stands a while in 
tanks and is then barreled. A bushel of grain makes about four 
gallons of white wine Vinegar. It is sharper than apple cider 
Vinegar. 



PICKLES, VINEGAR, ETC. 



205 



Is the process of making Cider Vinegar also hastened? 

Yes. Hard cider Vinegar is passed through the beechwood 
shavings in the generators, and the product is allowed to stand 
in old whisky barrels, which ripens it. 

Is Red Wine Vinegar also generated? 

Yes. The wine for the generators comes from both Ohio and 
California. In years of enormous grape crops, this use insures 
the vineyards against absolute waste, however cheap the price. 





mm 



Salt. 

TSr , "TSr-'T!r"T5r~ ""St- "Tar* ^Mr-"wc^'^r , " > w*"Tar'^«r-'^c*- 




What is a Salt ? 

A Salt is the result of an Acid and some other matter when 
they combine, and this resulting substance must be different 
from either the Acid or the other matter (the base, as the other 
matter is called). 

What is our table Salt ? 

A union of Sodium and Chlorine. Sodium is a white metal, 
never found in its pure state. Sir Humphrey Davy first isolated 
it. Chlorine is a gas that has a green color, hence its name, 
from chloros, Greek for green. It also is never found free. 

Then our table Salt is not a Salt ? 

You are right. It is the Chloride of Sodium. There are three 
other elements — Fluorine, Bromine and Iodine — that are capable 
of uniting with metals and making substances much like sea 
Salt. Hence the four are called Halogens, or salt-producers, 
from the Greek 9 als, which meant both Ocean and Salt, because 
the ocean was salt. 

What makes the ocean so salt? 

Evaporation of its water, and nothing else. All lakes, if they 
lasted long enough, would become salt by evaporation. The 
ocean is least salt where the icebergs are melting, and where the 
Amazon is pouring in. Its Salt keeps it from freezing at 32 
degrees of Fahrenheit. Its Salt renders it more buoyant than 
fresh water. It is therefore better fitted for navigation. 

207 



2o£ THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

What arc beds of Rock-Salt t 

They are the deposits of former seas, for all the land has been 
under water, however high it may tower above the sea-level. 
At Cardona, in Spain, there is a precipice of Rock Salt four or 
five hundred feet high, overlooking a valley. It is quarried, and 
needs only grinding for table use. Salt deserts and marshes 
occur in America, Russia, Persia and Abyssinia. The Abys- 
sinian salt was used for money, a block decreasing in value as it 
neared the quarries or mines. 

What properties does the Chloride of Sodium possess? 

It is white and sparkling when ground as we see it. It is 
bluish and crystalline as Rock Salt, It has a sharp taste, but not 
sour, nor spice-like. It does not alter its composition in a red 
heat. It will not dissolve in alcohol, while cold water will 
dissolve very nearly as much Salt as will hot water. The salt 
crystal is usually a cube, but at high temperature, the process of 
crystallization becomes more rapid, and the form is a hollow 
pyramid. 

But what other great property does Salt possess? 

It preserves against decay. It is called a detergent, because 
it cleanses, The cucumbers will keep in the salt vat, but they 
will absorb so much Salt that only a little bit could be eaten. 
The meat that w T e eat after it has been preserved in brine must 
often be soaked in water. The absence of what we call decay 
may be caused by the balance of electricity, or static condition; 
or by the presence of a metal or gas fatal to the life cell or 
bioplasm; or by the absence of the life cell. 

What is this Life-cell? 

Scientists are not yet able to deny that there are things that 
are alive and things that are dead. (See Life.) Strangely, when 
a thing does not decay, it is dead; when it decays, it has come 
to life — life has been added, according to Pasteur's demonstra- 
tions. By life, we mean a movement of some combination of 
Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen. That movement is 
not electrical, but willful, eccentric, animal, to some extent 
human — that is, it is alive. Again, that movement is as much a 



SALT. 209 

thing of itself as the action following the introduction of the 
rennet in the cheese. 

Cannot the scientists make this Life mixture ? 

No. They can only make the dead mixture. The living mass 
of Carbon, etc., called a life-cell, may be seen, under the micro- 
scope to move, its atoms going among each other. In an 
unsalted piece of dead meat, this living mass would surround a 
particle of tissue and absorb it; presently an atom would start 
out away from the mass, and become a new mass, a process 
called cell-cleavage. In some fatal diseases, these masses multiply 
in number and with rapidity almost beyond credence. 

What does Salt do ? 

In certain quantities it arrests that action. The mass itself 
dies. But there may be some Salt present, for the human blood, 
and all blood, which is filled with life-cells, contains Salt, and 
tastes of Salt. Until man shall know just what happens, his 
theories will work badly enough to show him that they are all 
faulty. With life thus tolerant of Salt, it must follow that the 
meat-packers have found other preservative substances more 
valuable, and a mixture of boracic acid, sodium phosphate, 
saltpetre and common Salt, will preserve meat in the proportion 
of only one teaspoonful to the pound of meat. 

Is Salt taken apart ? 

Yes. Its Chlorine is needed for bleaching powder, for electric 
accumulators, etc. Its Sodium is needed for soda in soap, for 
glass-making and for other alkaline purposes. England manufac 
tures caustic soda and carbonate of soda in vast quantities, and 
our soap factories import nearly 100,000,000 pounds a year. It 
all comes from Salt. 

What is its greatest use ? 

Simply as a condiment or seasoning in our food, and in the 
food of animals. It is one of the necessities of life, and every 
nation has access to it, either at the ocean's edge, in mines, or 
by salt springs or wells. The Smithsonian Institution exhibits 
the large quantity of Salt present in the average man of one 
hundred and fifty pounds. 

14 



2 io THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Where are our leading Salt- Works ? 

The greatest are in Michigan. New York, West Virginia and 
Ohio are vast producers. Salt was the earliest manufacture in 
American history, for the colonists at Jamestown, Va., before 
1620, had established salt works at Cape Charles, and sent salt 
to the Massachusetts Puritans in 1633. In 1689, Salt was made 
in South Carolina, and sea-water establishments were in opera- 
tion on the coast of every State from Maine southward. Solar 
evaporation at Cape Cod, Mass., and Key West, Fla., has 
flourished for a century. 

What of the interior States f 

The French Jesuits were familiar with the Onondaga Salt 
Springs near Syracuse, N. Y., and the white settlers boiled five 
hundred bushels in 1788. The French and Indians used the 
springs of Southern Illinois in 1720. The Kentucky springs 
were used before 1790. The first salt manufacture in Ohio was 
in 1798. In Western Pennsylvania the business began in 1812, 
Rock Salt was discovered in what is now West Virginia at a very 
early date. The Great Salt Lake of Utah measures fifty by 
twenty miles, and its waters are one-fifth Salt. Salt lakes of 
smaller size abound in the Western deserts, especially in Cali- 
fornia. Missouri, so rich in every valuable mineral, has vast 
resources of this kind, and nearly every State could be a large 
exporter. 

Describe the Onondaga works. 

The springs are in low marsh lands, in which wells of two or 
three hundred feet are sunk. Out of these wells the salt water 
is pumped to the resorvoirs. The brine holds from seventeen 
to twenty per cent, of Salt. It stands in the reservoir to let the 
sediment settle, and alum is added to hasten this action. 
Coarse Salt is secured by running the brine out of the reservoirs 
into tanks that are only six inches deep. The tanks near 
Syracuse cover hundreds of acres. Here the sun will leave fifty 
bushels a year in a tank only sixteen by eighteen feet in size. 

How is fine Salt secured? 

Parallel rows of vat-cauldrons, set in brick " blocks/' extend 
the length of the works. Each cauldron will boil one hundred 



SALT, 211 

gallons of brine. By the process of the manufacturers, whether 
by precipitation or otherwise, the sulphate of lime, oxide of iron, 
and chlorides of magnesium and calcium are taken away, and 
when this fine Salt is barreled it weighs fourteen pounds less to 
the bushel than the solar Salt. The State of New York owns 
the wells, and receives a royalty on all Salt produced. Seven- 
eighths of the product are made by boiling. A cord of wood or 
a ton of coal will secure forty-five bushels of fine Salt. 

What developed the Michigan works ? 

The economy of uniting the lumber and salt industries. Eight 
thousand square miles of salt-producing rock, about 800 feet 
under the surface of the earth, promise an illimitable supply of 
brine. Wells have been sunk as far as 2,000 feet. The first one 
was put down in 1859. The benefits of lake navigation are 
secured. Steam from the saw mills evaporates the brine by 
day, and the sawdust and other waste furnish fuel at night or at 
other times. Barrels for packing may be made from rejected 
timber. Through all these arrangements, and on account of 
private ownership, the works have surpassed all other American 
establishments in product. 

What is the history of Salt ? 

Such a history is of course as old as that of the creatures who 
cannot live without Salt. The relation of Sodium and Salt was 
at once known. Sodom, the city, meant burning in the Semitic 
tongues. The name of Sodium is Natron in German and older 
languages, and the Egyptians valued their Natron marshes as well 
for embalming purposes as for Salt. Salt pits are mentioned in 
Joshua, and in Leviticus the Jews are ordered to make no offer- 
ing without Salt. Babes were washed in Salt. Salt was the 
symbol of fidelity and death. Conquered cities were sown with 
Salt. Treaties were concluded with the eating of Salt. 

What of modern history ? 

Salic laws were sometimes edicts levying a tax on salt, but the 
Salic law that kept women off the throne was promulgated on 
the River Sale. The Gabelles were salt-taxes on the French 



212 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



provinces, so unjustly and unequally levied that they disclosed 
the unfitness of the nobles to enjoy their rights, and led to the 
great French Revolution. The salt manufacture has often been 
a State monopoly. The East Indian State monopoly was not 
abolished till 1863. The Cracow works in Poland, have been 
operated for six hundred and fifty years. 








***** 



* Gbe Spectroscope. * 




What is the Spectroscope ? 

It is an instrument, variously made, for the examination of 
the light that emanates from heated bodies. 

Why is that light to be studied ? 

Because every Element emits a different set of rays or undula- 




Fig. 73. A SPECTROSCOPE. 

tions, and all the Elements may be recognized by the lights and 
shadows which they cast. 

What is a Spectrum ? 

If you darken a western room in the afternoon while the sun 
is shining, and then make a round hole in the window curtain, 
so that the sun can shine through the. hole, a line of sunlight 
will go through the hole and follow a straight line to the wall, 
where a round, bright spot will appear on the wall. If you hold 

213 



214 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



a three-cornered bar of glass — a prism — with one of its sharp 
corners up, so the line of light will go through at a point in 
the " blade" of the prism a little from the top edge, the round, 
bright spot will disappear from its previous place on the wall, 




t£Sl£lBearn 

RED 

ORANGE 

*-Oyy 



Fig. 74. OBTAINING A SPECTRUM. 

and, falling several degrees, will become a u long spot with round 
ends " that is, the disk will be stretched out. But this is not all. 
The top of the spot will be red, the middle yellow, the bottom 
blue, with all the shades and tints interspersed between. It was 
found, forty years before the X Rays, that just above the red 
end (in the dark) bodies could be heated, and just below the blue 
end (also in the dark) bodies could be chemically affected, so that 
there were X Rays even in those days. But these outside and non- 
luminous rays were not X Rays like those which Doctor Roent- 
gen discovered in 1895. (See X Rays.) The long spot on the 




Fig. 75. PRINCIPLE OF THE SPECTROSCOPE. 
(a.) Prism, (b.) Tube through which the light passes, (cj Eye-piece, (d.) Scale. 



THE SPECTROSCOPE, 



215 



wall is the sun's Spectrum. Two such spots would be Spectra 
(plural). Study of this spot is Spectral Analysis. Newton began 
the investigations. 

What did the scientists think about the long spot ? 

They concluded that the prism had made a long row of spots 
on the wall, each overlapping the other. So they began experi- 
menting with knife-cuts or slits in the window curtain, to see if 
they could not get also a row of slit-like bright places on the 
wall. But these experiments only demonstrated that light went 
through the prism in every degree of refrangibility, and that the 
divisions of color we make with our eye are only illusory, or at 
least rude. 




Fig. 76. SPECTRAL APPARATUS FOR SHOWING SPECTRAL LINES ON A SCREEN. 



What is Refrangibility, Refraction, etc ? 

When you put the oar of a boat in the water, the oar seems 
bent. The oar represents a line of light sent into the water. It 
bends. A line of light sent through the prism bends downward 
and spreads downward, and the blue end of the Spectrum or 
rainbow spreads more than the red end. If the line of light 



216 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

were a cable of fine wires, the red wires would bend the least, 
the blue wires the most. All that is refraction. 

What is Diffraction or Interference? 

An important phenomenon of which the people have much less 
opportunity to know. If a coin be held before the hole in the 
curtain through which the sun shines, the coin's shadow on the 
wall will have a ring or rings around it. Theory accounts for 
these rings on the basis that light is a force sent through the 
atoms of the air or ether. When the atoms meet obstructions 
they must alter their motions, and after the atoms or the forces 
rejoin, the effect of the collision must remain and manifest itself. 
To get at our point, if light sent from all burning substances do 
not act in the same way — if it act differently for different sub- 
stances — then the shadows and light places on the wall will 
differ for every burning substance. Newton discovered the 
peculiarities of diffraction. Fresnel (see Search-light), accounted 
for them on the theory of moving atoms of ether. 

What have shadows to do with the Spectrum ? 

It * is with these shadows that we deal entirely. After the 
opticians had made their slit in the window-curtain and obtained 
lines of light instead of disks of light on the wall, they found 
also lines of darkness running across the Spectrum. That is, if 
a hair-comb were laid lengthwise on the Spectrum, the lines of 
darkness would run the same way as the teeth of the comb. 

What were these dark lines first called? 

Fraunhofer's Lines. And it was further found that if the 
light let in at the slit were not the sunlight, the Fraunhofer 
Lines would be bright instead of dark. 

How was the Spectroscope made ? 

As the experimenters desired to avoid refraction of an unequal 
kind, they laid trains of prisms to correct the refraction. They 
set lenses before their eyes to magnify the Fraunhofer Lines. 
Finally, they made gratings on speculum metal which caused 
diffraction or interference, and by another means separated the 
ray of light into its light and dark cross lines. Machines were 
made by which the speculum mirror or grating showed ten, 



THE SPECTROSCOPE 



21? 



twenty, fifty, one hundred, and at last one hundred and forty 
thousand lines in an inch of space. A ray shining on these lines met 
each one of them and set one hundred and forty thousand series of 




Fig. 77. BROWNING'S SPARK CONDENSER, TO MAKE SPARKS FOR SPECTRAL 

ANALYSIS. 



atoms in motion, making light and darkness. By these gratings, 
the lenses are dispensed with, and the image of the Spectrum, 
with all the Fraunhofer Lines, can be thrown on a screen. The 
more closely the lines are ruled, the more the Spectrum is spread 
out, extending over a space of many feet. 

What is the law of the Spectrum ? 

Every Element, when heated to a glowing vapor, emits a light 
that when sent through the Spectroscope, shows a Spectrum with 
Fraunhofer Lines different from the lines on the Spectrum of 
any of the other Elements. The Spectrum is divided into one 
hundred and forty thousand places to the inch by the recent 
inventions, and any variation of that degree is at once easily 
noted on the screen. This offers opportunity for seeing as 
many Fraunhofer Lines. 

Name some Fraunhofer Lines. 

Zinc flame shows three blue lines and one red line crossing the 



218 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Spectrum at certain places. Copper sends three green lines. 
Hydrogen has double violet lines. Iron has many lines. Nitro- 
gen and Manganese show three and Calcium one. It was from 
the Indigo-blue line of the Spectrum that the chemists discovered 
Indium, the metal. These lines are bright. 

But the lines on the Sim's Spectrum are dark? 

That was explained by Kirchoff, one of the greatest of the 
Spectroscopists, in 1859. The Spectrum was then well mapped, 
and he identified the dark line at Fraunhofer's D on the sun's 
Spectrum, as the same line which was bright in the Spectrum of 
the Element Sodium, when its light was sent through the Spec- 
troscope. In those days, the Spectroscope was a three-tubed, 
star-shaped apparatus, such as we illustrate, and by letting in 
the sun's light and the Sodium's light at the same time, he made 
the Fraunhofer lines fit on one another. In this way he sug- 
gested the presence of Sodium, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, 
Nickel, Barium, Copper, Zinc and Cobalt on the sun. 

Why are the sun's lines dark, while the same Elements^ 
burning on earth, throw bright lines ? 

It is explained on the theory that Sodium, in burning on the 
sun, makes a shadow by comparison with the vivid power of the 

light around it. The Persian poet imagined 
the glory of God to be such that the sun 
itself was His shadow. 

Did the study progress ? 

Very rapidly. Professor Crookes, of 
the celebrated X Ray tubes, was one of 
the most successful experimenters, succeed- 
ing in lighting the Elements by the electric 
spark and noting the map of their Spectra. 
In 1861 he thus discovered Thallium. 

What ^wonderful result followed? 

The Spectroscopists found lines on the 
sun's Spectrum that were not present in any 
light given on earth. They therefore 
named the two sources of these Lines Helium and Coronium. 




Fig. TO. HERRMANN'S 
HEMOSCOPE, or BLOOD- 
TESTING APPARATUS. 



THE SPECTROSCOPE: 219 

Helios is the Greek name for the sun. In 1895 Lord Rayleigh, 
who had isolated the Element Argon, a gas, announced that in 
isolating Argon he had found the Spectrum of Helium, and 
soon Helium was isolated by several chemists. Thus one of our 
Elements was first recognized at a distance of ninety-five million 
miles from the earth. No Gold is found on the sun. 

Are the Stars studied? 

Yes. They have been classified into stars like our sun that 
show many metals. Capella, in the Constellation Auriga, shows 
many metals. There is a large class like Sirius, that show more 
gas than our sun, principally Hydrogen. The third class show 
Iron, and their Lines are like those of the sun's spots. They are 
believed to be cooling into a molten condition. 

What is the most interesting result of the Spectral Analysis 
of tlie stars ? 

The Fraunhofer Lines in a star's Spectrum shift as the star 
comes or goes. When the star is coming, the Lines move toward 
the blue end of the Spectrum; when the star recedes, the Lines 
move toward the red end. The color of the star, too, changes 
with its motion. If a green star moves toward us most rapidly, 
it turns violet. If it recedes at enormous rate, it turns red. For 
two days and ten hours the star Argol, in the Constellation Per- 
seus, comes toward us as fast as twenty-six miles a second; then 
for the like period of fifty-eight hours it recedes at the same 
speed. Some stars move one hundred miles a second. The 
Spectra of the moon, planets and comets, are like the Spectrum 
of the sun — a mirrored showing from the great source of light. 

Have Americans led in these Spectral experiments ? 

Yes. Professor Rowland, and the scientists of the Johns 
Hopkins University, have brought the Spectroscope, with its 
gratings, to a perfection almost incredible, and without doubt, 
the number of Elements and the peculiarities of the Carbon 
Compounds will be investigated with important results to the 
human race. 

What theory prevails as to the motion which the Fraunhofer 
Lines betray ? 

Since the sunlight sends shafts of motion of all kinds, and not 



220 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

merely seven kinds, as Newton thought — that is the colors of the 
rainbow — the chemists and Spectroscopists now are forced to 
theorize that the atom of each Element sets up a motion within 
itself, and that the Interferences and Diffractions take place in the 
ether that plays inside the atom. This is believed because two 
atoms of different Elements — say a molecule of Salt (Chlorine 
and Sodium) make a Spectrum of their own, showing that the 
ether moves in the molecule, as it does in the atom. What 
makes the ether move ? — that is, what is Light ? — must be better 
answered in the future than it is now. 

What results from the developments of the Spectroscope ? 

It follows that the knowledge of mankind concerning Matter 
spread from the four hundred lines of Fraunhofer to the one hun- 
dred and forty thousand Interferences for each inch of the Johns 
Hopkins Spectrum. The secrets of each flame will be given up, 
the vibrations that make each dark or bright line will be scaled 
or theorized, the rapidity of Light undulations will be fixed within 
possible figures, the relation of the Electric vibrations to the 
Light vibrations will be sufficiently expressed, and the number 
of new Elements will become innumerable, until the uniform 
constitution of matter, as an outgrowth perhaps of Hydrogen, 
will be demonstrated. The imagination recedes before the 
labors that await our modern scientists. 

Where may I read a brief summary of Spectral Analysis? 

In the article Spectroscopy^ in the Encyclopoedia Britannica, 
you may gather the main facts of the chemical Spectra, group 
by group, as we shall go over the ground in describing the 
Elements. (See Chemistry.) The importance of dealing with 
the Elements in groups will become apparent if we look further 
into the subject. It is alleged that the alloys of Gold and 
Copper can be told apart in the Spectroscope if they differ the 
one-ten thousandth of a degree. 

/;/ criminal trials, where the Spectroscopist is called as a 
witness, how can he influence t lie jury ? 

In the trial of Luetgert, at Chicago, accused of the crime of 
murdering his wife and destroying her body in a solution of 



THE SPECTROSCOPE. 221 

alkalis, Professor Delafontaine, Spectroscopist, testified in part as 
follows: " The Spectroscope is an instrument which consists 
essentially of a stand on top of which is a triangular piece of 
glass called a prism, that is enclosed in a box to which are 
attached three tubes. Through one of them light is admitted, 
alight from any flame or any source that we want to study. 
Through another tube we send light to show a scale by which we 
locate lines and colors. The third tube is one through which 
we look and see what there is to be seen. I have just described 
the plain, ordinary Spectroscope, the same that I used. Now, 
when we place a gas light or a candle light or a kerosene flame 
in front of one of the tubes, the one to admit the light, and look 
through the small telescope, we see a bright band of color lights, 
the seven primary colors of the rainbow lights, passing gradually 
into each other; that is called the Spectrum of white light, or 
the continuous Spectrum. Now, if you hold in front of that 
tube in a flat bottle, or in a tube, some clear liquid, more or less 
of the light is absorbed, and we do not see ail the seven primary 
colors as before. Now, some liquids have the power of absorb- 
ing just certain colors and letting the others pass. Of course, 
where the light has been absorbed, there is a black band. When 
you look through you see some of the color, more or less of the 
rainbow, but at a certain spot, which is always the same for the 
same substance, there is one black band, or several bands. Some 
will give quite a number of lines and bands and others only one. " 

What did the State prosecutor next ask ? 

The prosecutor asked: " Do the elements or metals have dis- 
tinctive colors or combinations of colors?" To this Professor 
Delafontaine replied: " Yes. If we take what is called a Bunsen 
burner — that is, a gas burner that gives a blue flame like the 
kitchen stoves where they burn gas, just a blue flame, and hold 
it in front of that tube, it gives nothing when you look through 
except under certain conditions of the test. Now, if you bring 
in that blue flame a little of the salt of say, Potassium — hold it 
in that flame on the end of a Platinum wire — and look through, 
then we see all black or nearly black, except at one place there 
is a bright red line. That bright red line is always at the same 



222 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

piace whenever Potassium is put in the flame, and no other 
metal gives that same line at the same place, and therefore, we 
say that it characterizes Potassium — that means to say that 
whenever we see that red line in the flame, that means that we 
have brought into that flame some compound of potassium, and 
the same in regard to Sodium. Common salt, for instance will 
give you a bright yellow line, which is always at the same place, 
never to the right or to the left. It always corresponds to some 
degree of your scale." 

In what way could the Spectroscopist discover evidences of 
guilt t 

The witness w r as asked: i( How much material is necessary to 
make the spectroscopic test such as you have just described ?" 
A. — " Oh, for common salt (containing Sodium), exceedingly 
little. So little that in fact we can hardly avoid getting in that 
Sodium line, because in the test here, if I shake the table it will 
go there into the flame; it is very hard to make an observation 
in w r hich that Sodium does not show itself, but we understand 
that. I never figured it in fractions of a pound, but we know 
the fraction of a drachm is about the two-millionth part of a 
drachm. As regards Potassium it will require about one 
thousand times more of the compound to show a red line." 

/;/ what way did the Spectroscopist discover the presence of 
blood? 

The Professor said: " Blood is a liquid in which are floating 
microscopic round bodies called the red corpuscles and others 
called the white corpuscles. Blood is red because it contains the 
red corpuscles. Now, those red corpuscles contain a coloring 
matter which is called, when the blood is fresh, hemoglobin. 
When blood is boiled or heated with the alkali, that hemoglobin 
is soon transformed first into another coloring matter, that I do 
not need to mention now, and finally into hematine, which 
remains dissolved, and it is what we call alkaline hematine. If 
we take a solution of the alkaline hematine in a glass tube, and 
hold it in front of the Spectroscope, while the ray of alkaline 
hematine passes through it, the seven primary colors of the 



THE SPECTROSCOPE. 



223 



rainbow, which the white light would give, are obscured by a 
specific dark band, in the region of the red and orange." 

In what way do such investigations become convincing to a 
jury ? 

The Spectroscope finds that incriminating Elements are 
present, and exculpatory Elements are absent, or vice versa. 
Thus, there was no trace of spices in the matter contained in 
Luetgert's vat; there were Aluminium lines in the spectrum, and 
it was charged that Mrs. Luetgert had worn a set of artificial 
teeth with an aluminium plate. 

Important Chemical Discoveries of Recent Years.— A temperature low enough 
to turn air into a liquid was attained as eary as 1883. Professor Dewar's now famous dem- 
onstrations followed, and Tripler's public exhibitions of boiling a tea-kettle filled with 
liquid air by putting it on a cake of ice were well noticed in the newspapers. In the sum- 
mer of 1898 Professor Ramsay reported to the London Royal Society the discovery of two 
previously unknown elements. In the air, through its liquefaction in large quantities, he 
discovered Krypton, which forms one-twenty-thousandth part of the atmosphere. In 
liquefied Nitrogen he discovered Neon. Soon afterward he discovered Metargon. 

To the astonishment and admiration of mankind, a woman, Madame Sladowska Curie, 
of Paris, has made one of the most remarkable discoveries in the whole realm of molecular 
physics. In December, 1898, she isolated an Element, or at least a substance, which she 
named Radium. This Element either sends forth particles of matter without measurable 
loss to itself, or so excites the air or ether as to cause the deposit of particles of matter on 
affinitive substances. The atomic weight of Radium is 140. This radio-active quality had 
been known to exist feebly in Uranium. It seems to be one of the principles in the Wels- 
bach mantle. (See Cerium Group, page 289.) Radium is now produced as a commercial 
article. One ton of the metals of the Cerium Group yield less than an ounce of Radium. 

In 1899 Professor Dewar produced liquid hydrogen in visible quantities, and it froze air 
and oxygen. Shortly afterward he turned Helium to a liquid. 

Coronium was first seen in the spectroscope, July 29, 1878, in the corona at the eclipse 
of the sun. In 1898 it was discovered at Vesuvius. Its line in the old scale of the spectro- 
scope was 1474. In the new scale its line is numbered 5316.9. Professor Rowland, the orig- 
inator of the great diffraction spectroscope, died at Baltimore in 1901. 

In 1899 Professor Crookes found the element Monium, while exploring the ultra-violet 
region of the spectrum. Its atomic weight is 118. Its principal lines (new scale) are 3120 
and 3117. 

Madame Curie announced another element, which she named Polonium, in honor of her 
native land. 

Two elements as ghostly as Coronium were found in 1899, in the spectroscope. The line 
at 5570.7 has been named Aurorium. Nebulum is an element betrayed by its two lines at 
5007.5 and at 4959.02. 

In October, 1899, Professor Crookes discovered Actinium. 

Coronium, Aurorium and Nebulum are elements that approach to the ether, and will 
lead to a closer study of the present molecular theory. 

Theprogress of discovery in these early years of the first decade of the twentieth cen- 
tury was hastened by spectroscopic analysis of those features of Light or Radiation which 
do not appear in the visible spectrum, but rather in its infra-red and ultra-violet ends. 

M. Sagnec, of Paris, demonstrated that, when X rays can be deflected, they become 
S rays. 

When X ravs pass through perforated metal plates, they become Goldstein rays. 

The name of Becquerel rays is applied generally to the invisible radiations of certain 
elements. Prince Krapotkin suggests that this radiation is a characteristic of all matter, 
lee table of Elements on page 293. 




Fig. 79. PROF. LIEBIG IN HIS LABORATORY. 







I 



4* 






Chemistry J& 



tTiiTj fcTTJ ^E| tTTli 



W%^^ # r* //^ Elements of Nature ? 

The Chemists have separated the Universe into something 
like eighty or ninety kinds of matter. One of the latest Elements 
found, Helium, was first seen on the sun by means of an 
instrument called the Spectroscope, and Helium was thereafter 
recognized and isolated on the Earth. Scientists are all the 
time in search of new Elements. 

What is the good of knowing the Elements ? 

If we learn the list of the principal ones, we then know that 
practically all other things, however familiar by some misleading 
name, must be compounds of two or more of the Elements. 

How shall I learn the list of Elements ? 

It would be well to divide it into several sections. First of 
all, it is important to know that Carbon forms compounds with 
more Elements, and in more ways, than all the rest of the 
Elements put together, so that Chemistry may be divided into 
two departments — Carbon and non-Carbon, or as they are called, 
organic (Carbon) and inorganic (non-Carbon) Chemistry. 

Name the Elements that are deemed most important ? 

Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulphur, 
Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Chlorine, Iodine, Iron, Aluminium, 
Bromine, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Silicon, Silver, Tin and Zinc. 
All of these were known in the eighteenth century except 
Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Silicon, Chlorine, Bromine and 

225—15 



22G THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

Aluminium. Davy separated Potassium, Sodium and Calcium 
early in the nineteenth century. 

These make twenty-one. Give vie the second list. 

Second in importance come Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, 
Bismuth, Boron, Cadmium, Chromium, Cobalt, Fluorine, 
Gallium, Gold, Magnesium, Manganese, Nickel, Platinum, 
Strontium. More than half of these were known before the 
nineteenth century, and several of them are of the highest 
antiquity in history. 

This list makes sixteen more, or thirty-seven in all. Name 
the third list. 

Argon, Caesium, Cerium, Didymium, Decipium, Erbium, 
Germanium, Glucinum, Helium, Indium, Iridium, Lanthanum, 
Lithium, Molybdenum, Neodymium, Niobium, Osmium, Palla- 
dium, Praseodymium, Rhodium, Rubidium, Ruthenium, Selen- 
ium, Scandium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Thallium, Thorium, 
Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Yttrium, Ytterbium, 
Zirconium. These forms of matter complete the catalogue of 
Elements which we shall call to your attention. 

Why is the last list called unimportant ? 

Because these Elements are of rare occurrence, or our 
knowledge of them is often limited to the mere fact that they 
exist. Many of them are more costly to obtain than Gold, and 
they must usually be preserved in petroleum or otherwise kept 
from oxidizing. Caesium, Thallium, Rubidium, Gallium, Argon, 
Helium, Neodymium, Praseodymium and others have been 
isolated for the first time at a date since i860. At the end of 
this important chapter we shall append a table of the Elements, 
their symbols and their weight. 

Do the endings of these words signify any particular thing ? 

No, except that by far the greater number of recencly- 
discovered Elements have been named so as to end in turn or 
U7)i. Gen means to generate; as Oxygen generates acids, 
Hydrogen generates water, Nitrogen makes nitre, and the four 
halogens (Chlorine, Bromine, Fluorine and Iodine) generate salt. 
(See Salt.) 



CHEMISTRY, 



227 



How many Elements appear naturally as gases ? 
The four leading ones are Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and 
Chlorine. (See note at page 223.) 

How many appear naturally as liquids ? 
Mercury and Bromine. Gallium is also said to be a liquid. 
All the rest are solids. That is, at least sixty-one of the 




Fig. 80. CHRISTOMANN'S APPARATUS FOR DISCOVERING THE MELTING- 
POINT, WITH ELECTRIC SIGNAL. 



Elements must be heated, as we say, more or less to turn them 
into fluids. 

Give me an idea of the use to zvhich the Elements are put in 
nature ? 

The Air consists mainly of Oxygen and Nitrogen, and this 
envelope surrounds the earth to a great distance. The Water 
is mainly Hydrogen and Oxygen. The solid earth is mainly 
Oxygen, Silicon, Carbon, Calcium, Magnesium, Aluminium, 
Iron and Potassium — that is, far greater quantities of these than 
of any other Elements could be contracted for, to be delivered 
on another world. They wo»M be found in quartz, silica, 
limestone, clay and felspar. 




Fig. 81. HUMBOLDT IN HIS STUDY. 



CHEMISTRY. 



229 



What Elements must animals and plants have ? 

The only absolutely necessary ones appear to be Carbon, 
Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus, Calcium, 
Iron, Potassium, Sodium, Chlorine, Silicon and Magnesium. 

What is the chemical difference between 
plants and animals ? 

Animals have Nitrogen in addition to the 
leading Elements that the plants have. 
Plants breathe out Oxygen ; animals take 
it up. Animals breathe out Carbon ; 
plants take it up. The refreshment felt 
in the woods and fields is probably due to 
the great supply of Oxygen that is offered 
to the lungs of animals whose supplies may 
have been scantier. 

How are Elements compared scientifi- 
cally ? 

By extending them into gases, weighing 
them, noting the amount of heat they 
have taken up, and measuring the volume 
into which they have expanded. It is also 
important that the electric condition of the 
Element should be noted, and it is therefore 
put between the poles of a battery where 
it seeks one or the other, accordingly as it 
is positive or negative. Faraday demon- 
strated the likeness of what are called 
chemical and electrical movements, and 
gave added weight to the Atomic and 
Molecular theories. 

Who set up these theories, and when ? 
John Dalton, an Englishman, at the be- 
ginning of the century, and Professor 
Avogadro, an Italian, at Turin, a little later. 
You might interest yourself in determining 
which one of these men deserves the most honor, as the Atomic 




Fig. 82. PROP. JOLLY'S 
APPARATUS FOR DE- 
TERMINING THE SPE- 
CIFIC GRAVITY OF 
MINERALS. 



230 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



and Molecular theories are perhaps the most ingenious things 

that man has done on the earth. 

How did the theories arise ? 

Certain things had already become 
evident in Chemistry. If water, 
air, salt, sugar, or any other compound 
were taken apart, it was always found 
to give exact proportions of the 
Elements that made it. By weighing: 
all the Elements that could be heated 
into a gaseous form and still weigh- 
ed, it was determined that Hydrogen 
was by far the lightest, most of the 
Elements being from twenty to 
heavier, but all in different degrees. 




Fig. 83. WESTPHAL'S APPARA- 
TUS FOR OBTAINING THE 
SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF 
LIQUIDS. 



two hundred times 
Thus Hydrogen offered 



a standard of weight at i, and 




Fig. 84. LUX'S BALANCE FOR WEIGHING GASES. 



CHEMISTRY. 



231 




Fig. 85. BUNSEN'S APPARATUS 
FOR OBTAINING VOLUME OF 
CHLORINE (gas). 



other Elements like Gold, could be put at 196.2 and 
Iron at 55.9. Let us go farther for the following examples, 
and weigh Chlorine (a gas) at 35.36 times the weight of 

Hydrogen, and Silver at 107.66, 
according to the books. Then we 
will find that if we mix Chlorine 
with Silver it will make a new 
thing, called Chloride of Silver, 
and if we take the Chloride of 
Silver apart, we find that out of 
143.02 parts of Chloride of Silver. 
35.36 were Chlorine and 107.66 
were Silver. 

Why do the chemists say ide> in 
Chloride ? 

This is a suffix which is specifi- 
cally added to the non-metallic 
Elements like Fluorine, Iodine, 
etc., when they have mixed with some other Element without 
forming an acid. 

What next did the chemists discover ? 

They found that certain Elements, like Oxygen, united with 
other Elements in more than one way, but always in multiple 
proportions, or regular progression of one, two, three, four or 
even five times their weight of Hydrogen. Thus, fourteen parts 
by weight of Nitrogen, united with eight parts of Oxygen. This 
they called Nitrous Oxide. Twice as many parts of Oxygen 
(16) united with fourteen parts of Nitrogen and made what they 
named Nitric Oxide. Thrice as many parts of Oxygen (24) 
united with fourteen parts of Nitrogen and made what they 
named Nitrous Anhydride. Four times as many parts of Oxygen 
(32) united with fourteen parts of Nitrogen and made what they 
called Nitric Peroxide. Five times as many parts of Oxygen 
(40) united with fourteen parts of Nitrogen and made what they 
called Nitric Anhydride. Here were five different substances 
made out of nearly the same things. It was to be seen that a 
certain quantity, molecule, atom, or division of Oxygen was 



232 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



being doubled, tripled, etc. Note also that Nitrogen itself is 
just fourteen times heavier than Hydrogen, the standard. 

Did the chemists next experiment with compounds of three 
Elements ? 

Yes. They found that when they took compounds of three 
Elements apart, there was always at least enough of each to 
make its relative weight once in Hydrogen. If there were more 
than enough, it was twice enough, thrice enough. For instance, 
Bromine, an Element, weighs 79.75 parts of Hydrogen. Mix 
Bromine, Silver and Chlorine together into a new thing; take 
them apart, and out of the mass there would come 79.75 parts of 
Bromine, 35.36 parts of Chlorine, and 107.66 parts of Silver. It 
was found that any two of three such ingredients would them- 
selves combine in the exact way they had clung to or amalga- 
mated with the third. But they might, like Oxygen and Nitro- 
gen, have several ways of uniting, by the doubling, tripling, etc., 
of one of the Elements. In this way you see, discovery of the 
relation of Elements rapidly proceeded. 




Figs. 86 and 87. APPARATURES FOR DETERMINING MOLECULAR WEIGHT. 



CHEMISTRY. 233 

What did Dalton and Avogadro do with these laws? 

They deduced the theory that the Elements are themselves 
composed of molecules or combinations of atoms. These atoms 
have shapes, weights, affinities of their own. They are all alike 
in their own molecule. But they readily leave their own mole- 
cule to attach themselves to a molecule of another kind of 
atoms ; or a whole molecule may attach itself to another mole- 
cule ; or several molecules may fasten on a larger molecule, 
making a conglomerate mass ; or certain molecules may refuse 
to fasten to certain other molecules. But usually the molecule 
of a compound like sugar is composed of atoms from *he mole- 
cules of the Elements, and these atoms have come together in a 
new molecule, which to all intents seems as important as the 
original molecule, and crystallizes into a certain shape, generally 
different from all other crystals. 

How many atoms may a molecule contain ? 

In order to carry out Avogadro's hypothesis, there are in a 
molecule of the compound called Albumin, at least 226 atoms, 
and in Stearin at least 173. Understand, that however impressive 
the name of a substance may be, if you do not find it in the list 
of names which have been given on a previous page, it is a com- 
pound of two or more Elements, and usually the chemical name 
will reveal to your ear two of the Elements. 

What is this crystal, which I see when I take granulated 
white sugar in my hand? 

Not much is known about it as a crystal. A large company 
of scientists have striven to reach some hypothesis concerning 
the crystal. It can be seen springing into existence under the 
microscope, but why it does so, or in what shapes it may form, 
is not sufficiently known. Many Elements and compounds are 
recognized by the shape of their crystals, but the formations are 
themselves compound, and a crystal may be split down to a 
smaller shape. Again, Elements (as Sulphur and Carbon) and 
compounds^ as Carbon with Calcium, when they crystallize, may 
make altogether different crystals at different times and in vary- 
ing conditions. The crystal makes itself, as in sugar, or refuses 
to make itself, as in molasses. Its molecules in solution throw 



234 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



light in various ways, and thus give the scientist an opportunity 
to name substances by this action of their solutions — as the sac- 
charose solution throws light to the right, and is sweeter than 
the glucose solution that throws light to the left. 

You say different molecules can make the same crystals. 
Yes. Alum, which is a compound of Sulphur, Potassium and 
Aluminium, is made of molecules that make the crystal which 
you see in alum. But molecules of Sulphur, Sodium and Alumin- 
ium, or of Sulphur, Potassium and Chromium will make the 

same kind of crystals. This often 
leads the chemists to measure the 
atoms by such means, where they 
have no better way, it. being felt 
that the atoms are of the same 
size and shape-that is isomorphous. 
Vanadium was found through ex- 
periments in this direction. 

Pursue Avogadro's hypothesis a 
little further \ 

Avogadro stated, in 1811, that 
equal volumes of different gases 
contain equal numbers of mole- 
cules. Under the same conditions 
of pressure, etc., the Elements may 
be weighed as gases, the amount of heat may be measured which 
goes into them to make them gaseous, and the pressure may 
be noted. We now mix Chlorine, a gas, and Hydrogen, a gas. 
We have found that Chlorine atoms weigh 35.36 times as much 
as Hydrogen atoms. The mixture is to be called Hydrochloric 
acid gas. As related to pure Hydrogen, we might expect a 
mixture weighing 36.36. But in reality, it weighs only 18.18. 
Now, inasmuch as other experiments with Chlorine have not 
permitted the existence of an atom weighing 17.68 (or half 
of 35.36), it would seem that for every atom of Chlorine (35.36) 
two atoms of Hydrogen have been used, and these three atoms 
have formed one molecule of Hydrochloric acid gas. To prove 
that the Chlorine atom was not cut in two, (into 17.68), 




Fig. 88. WOLLASTON'S REFLECT- 
ING ANGLE MEASURER FOR 
CRYSTALS. 






CHEMISTRY. 



235 



the chemists take other light or gaseous compounds of Chlorine. 
Thus, Sulphur Chloride weighs 57.36. On taking it apart, it is 
found to contain 61.64 per cent, of Chlorine, and this percentage 
is very close indeed to 35.36 weights of Hydrogen taken in 
Chlorine. When Oxygen is tested in compounds, it continually 
shows either 15.96 times the weight of Hydrogen, or multiples 
of 15.96. 

What Elements have been tested and weighed as gaseous 
compounds ? 

About thirty, of which Boron, Bromine, Carbon, Chlorine, 
Hydrogen, Iodine, Lead, Mercury, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phos- 
phorus, Silicon, Sulphur, Tin and Zinc are the most important. 

How did the chemists study the Elements that they could not 
readily treat in the form of gases ? 

They attempted to ascertain the Specific Heat. If the Ele- 
ments be raised in temperature, say from 50 to 55 degrees, a 




Fig. 89. APPARATUS FOR COMPARING THE SPECIFIC HEAT OF ANY TWO 

BODIES. 



different amount of heat will be required for each one, and if 
they be lowered ten degrees, each one will give off a different 
amount of heat. For a standard, one gramme of water is raised 



236 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

from a temperature of o to i degree Centigrade in Paris. This 
would be a heat-unit. 

Define these terms ? 

A gramme is a French unit of weight. A cubic centimetre of 
water at 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit at Paris, in a vacuum, weighs 
15.433 grains avoirdupois. A Centigrade thermometer has zero 
at the freezing point (32 degrees Fahrenheit), and the space to 
the boiling point (212 degrees Fahrenheit), is divided into one 
hundred places or degrees. 

What was found by Specific Heat ? 

The Elements usually absorbed or gave off a number of heat 
units which could be multiplied 6.3 times in order to get the 
figure representing the weight of the atom, according to Avo- 
gadro's hypothesis. The scientists then adopted a theory of 
atomic weights for such of the Elements as they could not 
weigh in gaseous forms, and they did it by means of the Specific 
Heat. They also studied the crystals. 

What are these Elements so treated ? 

The most important are Aluminium, Calcium, Copper, Gold, 
Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Nickel, Platinum, Potassium, 
Silver and Sodium. 

What is agreed upon as to the molecules of Elements ? 

Thirteen Elements have been theoretically and experimentally 
developed with regard to a molecular hypothesis. Beginning 
with the belief that a Hydrogen molecule contained two atoms, 
the same condition is now scientifically suggested for Chlorine, 
Bromine, Iodine, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Selenium and Tellurium. 
Mercury and Cadmium appear to have only one atom in their 
molecules. Sulphur, at different very high temperatures, has 
six and two atoms respectively. The greater heat, the fewer the 
atoms in the Sulphur molecule. 

What are Symbols ? 

These are the letters which stand for the Elements. These 
letters usually furnish a clew to the word they represent. Some- 
times, however, a foreign language has been used to name the 
Element. These exceptions are Sb (Stibium) for Antimony ; 



CHEMISTRY. 237 

Au for Gold (Aurum); Fe for Iron (Ferrum); Pb for Lead 
(Plumbum); Hg for Mercury (Hydrargyrum); K for Potassium 
(Kalium); Ag for Silver (Argentum); Na for Sodium (Natrium); 
Sn for Tin (Stannum); Cu for Copper (Cuprum); and W for 
Tungsten (Wolfram). Barring these eleven Elements, the 
others begin with letters that agree with their English names, 
but only a few are represented by a single letter. You will find 
an instructive and convenient table of these names and Symbols 
at the close of this chapter. 

What Elements are represented by the single capital letters 
with which their names- begin ? 

Boron, Carbon, Fluorine, Glucinum, Hydrogen, Iodine, Nitro- 
gen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Uranium, Vanadium, 
Yttrium. No Element is represented by two capital letters. 
Some of the letters, such as A, D, E, J, M, Q, R, T, and Z, are not 
utilized separately for Elements. Small letters are added to 
particularize, as in the four B's — Barium, Ba; Bismuth, Bi; 
Boron, B; Bromine, Br. Some of the most important compounds 
have Symbols, notably MCy for Metallic Cyanide, but this is 
rare. 

Why are Symbols used? 

To give an instantaneous knowledge of the chemist's theory of 
the constitution of his compounds. Thus, he writes Sulphuric 
Acid — H 8 S0 4 . This is to inform us that he holds that each 
molecule of this substance is formed of two atoms of Hydrogen, 
one atom of Sulphur, and four atoms of Oxygen. Sofarasthey 
can, chemists hope to express a single atom by a single Symbol 
like S in the Sulphuric Acid Symbol, and the number of atoms 
in a molecule by the small figures; but this they do not always 
accomplish. It is perfectly safe for you to read a chemical 
Symbol like C 3 H 4 O a (Acetic Acid) as two atoms of Carbon, four 
atoms of Hydrogen, and two atoms of Oxygen. This combina- 
tion of Symbols, or any other, is called a formula. A large figure 
put in front of the formula multiplies the entire formula — 
thus, 2C 3 H 2 O a is equal to the formula C 4 H 4 4 . 

What is a Chemical Equation ? 

It is a rapid statement of what follows a mixture of Elements 



238 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

or compounds. Thus, the chemist is able to say by the formula 
— 2HCl + Zn = ZnCl 2 +H 2 — all that follows: " If I take a mixture 
of two parts of Hydrogen and two parts of Chlorine (forming 
Hydrochloric Acid) and mix it -with one part of Zinc, I shall 
obtain two other bodies, one being Chloride of Zinc (ZnCl 2 ), in 
which there are two parts of Chlorine, and the other being 
H>v>ogen, in which there are two parts or atoms. I have thus 
released the Hydrogen in the Hydrochloric Acid, and fastened 
the Chlorine molecules to the Zinc molecules." 

But I have seen Symbols hi parenthesis like this — S0 2 (OH) 2 . 

These formulas are still further descriptive of the chemical 
action which took place in the constitution of the substance in 
question . The above formula describes the making of Sulphuric 
Acid. Two atoms of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen — H 2 — 
make water. Now drop into this water one atom of Sulphur 
and three more atoms of Oxygen. It is theoretically necessary 
at present to hold that the molecule of water adheres to the 
molecule of Sulphur and Oxygen (trioxide of Sulphur) without 
an entirely new constitution, only one of the three atoms of 
additional Oxygen going into the water molecule. Thus the 
molecule of the whole thing stands as follows: One atom of 
Sulphur and two atoms of Oxygen cling in one molecule. This 
molecule clings to a molecule made of two atoms each of 
Hydrogen and Oxygen. This is Sulphuric Acid. Instead of 
parenthesis-marks, a simple period or a comma may be used to 
represent the two molecules. 

What are these sub-Molecules called ? 

They are known as Compound Radicles, and can be handled 
by the chemists as if they were atoms. The atoms of the 
Elements are Simple Radicles. Note that the names of all acid 
Radicles end in yl. The terms perissad and artiad y applied to 
such molecules, mean only odd and. even, referring to the num- 
ber employed in the combination. Thus, Carboxyl is an atom 
of Carbon and an atom of Oxygen acting together in acid form 
as if they were one molecule of one Element. The capital let- 
ter R stands for Radicle, or sub-molecule. 



CHEMISTRY. 239 

What is the Valency of an Element ? 

Its power to unite, as contrasted with the power of Hydrogen 
to unite, with other Elements. Hydrogen will unite with but a 
single atom of Chlorine. An atom of Zinc will unite with two 
atoms of Chlorine; Boron with three of Chlorine; Silicon with 
four; Phosphorus with both three and five. We have previously 
shown the remarkable Valencies of Nitrogen and Oxygen 
toward each other. Sugar is a Polyvalent Alcohol or an alcohol 
with many Valencies. 

What Elements are Metals ? 

All except the following. (But classification in this way is not 
regarded as satisfactory): Boron, Bromine, Carbon, Chlorine, 
Fluorine, Hydrogen, Iodine, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, 
Selenium, Silicon, Sulphur and Tellurium. These are popularly 
ailed non-metals. They are by far the most important group 
uiat could be mentioned. The rest are metals. 

What does Electricity do among the Elements ? 

When a compound of two Elements is decomposed in an 
electric current, the two Elements make their appearance at 
opposite poles. Those Elements that come to the negative pole 
are called Positive or basylous (base-making) Elements, while 
those that appear at the Positive pole are called Negative 
Elements. Classification in this way, however, is as objectionable 
as the metallic catalogue. 

What Elements are remarkably Negative to all the others ? 

Chlorine, Bromine, Fluorine, Iodine, Oxygen, Sulphur, 
Selenium and Tellurium. Acids are Negative. All the other 
Elements are more or less Positive, the most notable one being 
Caesium. 

Group the compounds into which nature lias formed the 
Elements, so that I may gather some of the salient ideas of 
Chemistry. 

First of all, there are the Carbon Compounds, which form half 
of the subject. Carbon Chemistry was called Organic Chemistry 
because the elder chemists supposed that nothing but a living 
organism could form the complex molecules of Carbon, Hydro- 



240 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

gen, Oxygen and other Elements, in which the study abounded. 
Then there are the Hydrides, the Oxides, the Acids, the Salts 
and the Sulphides. There is a group of Chlorides, Bromides, 
Iodides and Fluorides — the salt-makers. Nitrogen is an exclu- 
sive Element, and makes but few alliances, so that the Nitrides 
are not numerous, but the Ammonias and the Cyanides (them- 
selves from Nitrogen) are the parents of vast groups of 
compounds. The Phosphites, the Alkalis, the Iron group, the 
other metallic groups, complete the necessary parts of a passing 
index of Chemistry. 

Explain words like Sulphide, Sulphate, Sulphite, etc. 

Where bodies unite in only one simple way, like Chlorine and 
Sodium (making salt), it is easy to name them, but bodies with 
the Valency of Oxygen, Sulphur, Phosphorus, Chlorine, etc., 
give the scientists more trouble. You may usually consider z'afc 
to be the broadest term, and Sulphide and Sulphuretare the 
same, meaning a mixture of Sulphur with some other (non-acid) 
body. Ic means that there is more of the Element used than 
if it were ous — thus Sulphuric Acid has more atoms of Sulphur 
than Sulphurous Acid. Sulphite is a union of Sulphurous Acid 
with another Element. Sulphate is a union of Sulphuric Acid 
with another Element. As we have many Elements, the number 
of formulas possible is not to be limited, and chemists are likely 
to attempt to give a descriptive name to each of the most inter- 
esting combinations of Elements. These names, of course, must 
test the entire capacity of our language. It is much easier to 
learn the Symbols and then read the formulas by that means. 
But the suffix turn, or um for the newly-discovered Elements, 
ite for rocks, and the other suffixes that we have noted, with 
Sulphur (or some other Element) as a mere stem on which to 
place them, will give you a reasonable understanding of the 
chemical terms that we hear most frequently. 

/ did not know Carbon was so important. What is this 
Element ? 

It is always present in all animal or vegetable substances. 
While it seems probable that only a small number of atoms of 
other Elements combine in compound molecules, there is only a 



CHEMISTRY. 241 

very high limit to be placed on the number of Carbon atoms that 
may so unite. While the other Elements will furnish one stable 
compound each with Hydrogen, Carbon will unite with Hydro- 
gen in hundreds of ways. Nor are these the only perplexing 
features of Carbon. It is also Allotropic. 

What does Allotropic mean? 

It means different appearances for the same thing. You may 
see a diamond. It may have any color. It is Carbon in its 
crystallized form. You may also see the black substance in 
your lead pencil, called graphite. That also is Carbon, in its 
crystallized form. Again, in lamp-black you may see Carbon 
in an extremely soft powder, without form. In diamonds the 
crystals are eight-sided, or related to eight-sided forms, and 
very hard — the hardest substance known ; in graphite the crys- 
tals are six-sided and soft ; in lamp-black and other coals, cokes, 
etc., there is no regular form to the grains. It would require 
over 14,000 degrees of heat Fahrenheit to make a diamond boil; 
the greatest heats usually practicable char it into formless char- 
coal. It is but logical that the chemists should hold that the 
diamond is the really pure form, and that the two other forms 
are impure. But Oxygen and Ozone offer a similar puzzle of 
Allotropy, being different things to all intents and purposes, but 
made of the same Element. 

Have diamonds been made? 

In 1896, before the New York College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, M. Henri Moissan, of the Institute of France, gave his 
demonstration of the methods by which diamonds are produced 
in nature. He determined that the Carbon is subjected to great 
pressure. To get this pressure, he chose iron. When fluid Iron 
grows cold it shrinks. By making a little bullet of Iron, with 
charcoal inside, he obtains a tiny diamond. The apparatus is a 
brick crucible — two thick bricks with a small cavity between 
them. Into this cavity the crucible is placed. The cavity is 
sprinkled with magnesia. Into the little crucible he puts Iron 
filings and charcoal. The bricks are put together. Then, with 
Electricity he heats the crucible to a temperature of 2,500 de- 

16 



242 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



grees. In the region of the crucible there is a boiling and 
flaming of clay and Iron. In ten minutes the process is com- 
plete. The crucible is dropped in cold water. The Iron bullet 




Fig. 9C. THERMOMETER, MEASURING AS HIGH AS 2,700 DEGREES ABOVE 

ZERO, FAHRENHEIT. 



in the crucible now condenses as it cools, pressing the charcoal 
into diamond. The diamond made is small, faulty and com- 
paratively worthless, but it is diamond. M. Moissan finds that 
the manner of cooling determines the color of his diamond 
product. On the Allotropic nature of Carbon he has learned 
that Carbon becomes a gas and reacts into graphite unless it be 
under pressure, when it only liquifies and returns to solid as a 
diamond. 

Have formulas been made for all common things? 

No. As the commonest and yet the most remarkable things 
are Carbon compounds, there the chemists have found their 
most difficult problems. They do not yet attempt to write the 
formulas for the tree-gums — the resins, mucilage, gum traga- 



CHEMISTRY. 



243 



canth, India-rubber, balsams, — the bitumens, the albuminous 
substances, such as the whites of eggs, the globulin in our blood, 
the casein in cheese, pepsin in our stomachs, and many other 




Fig. 91. AUTOMATIC LOW-PRESSURE AIR PUMP FOR THE DISTILLATION OF 
UNSTABLE SUBSTANCES IN THE HYDRO-CARBONS. 

compounds, all of them extremely familiar. That is, no chemist 
attempts to say how the molecules of these substances come 
together, although the Elements concerned are usually Hydro- 
gen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Oxygen and sometimes Sulphur, as 
Carbon in the Albuminoids. 



244 



THE Fl RESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




CHEMISTRY. 



245 



Why are the glass tubes of the laboratory so full of bulbs? 
The bulb offers more surface, on which the vapors (or gases) 
that rise in the tube may precipitate and turn to liquid. 

Name some of the Carbon groups that are fully theorized. 

The Hydro-Carbons are the parent forms of all the Carbon 
compounds that are to follow, and they are themselves divided 
into many series, say fifteen in number. India-Rubber is a pure 
Hydro-Carbon. There is the marsh-gas (Methane) or Paraffin 
series; the Olefine or oily series; the Acetylene series; the 
Terpene series (the essential feature of Turpentine, Lemons, 
Oranges, etc.); the Benzene series of Benzene, Naphthalene, 
Anthracene, etc., in which theory carries the molecule to a ring 
of Carbon atoms with arms of Hydrogen atoms (Benzine), or 
two circles of Carbon atoms in a large ring of Hydrogen atoms 
(Naphthalene), or even still more complex forms. The Benzenes 
and Naphthalenes are themselves divided into many series. All 
these Hydro-Carbons are used by nature to make the other and 
following groups in Organic Chemistry. 

Name some of the Carbon groups that have their descent 
from a union with Hydro-Carbon molecules. 

First in popular interest are the Alcohols, of which there are 




Fig. 93. APPARATUS TO FIN D THE QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL IN BEVERAGES, ETC. 

many families. An Alcohol is usually fluid, but may be a crys- 
talline solid. It is often an oil. It is often made by the action 



246 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

of an atom of Oxygen and an atom of Hydrogen, acting together 
in one molecule as an acid Radicle — that is .OH, or Hydroxyl — 
on another molecule of Hydrogen and Carbon. The Alcohol 
we buy at the drug-store is a union of two atoms of Carbon, 
five atoms of Hydrogen, with the outside Radicle molecule of 
one atom each of Oxygen and Hydrogen. There is a huge 
number of Oxygen Alcohols, and as Sulphur, Selenium and 
Tellurium will form Radicles with Hydrogen, there may be 
three more families — Sulphur, Selenium and Tellurium Alco- 
hols. Sugar, as we said, is classed as a Polyvalent Alcohol. 

What are Ethers ? 

A second great group. They are derived from all four of the 
families of Alcohols, and also from the four Halogens or salt- 
makers — Chlorine, Bromine, Fluorine, and Iodine. Instead of 
the Radicle molecule that is in the Alcohol, we have two atoms 
either of Oxygen, Sulphur, Selenium, or Tellurium. 

What are Aldehydes ? 

A third great group, made from at least eleven of the primary 
Alcohols, and to be made from all. Two atoms of Hydrogen 
are withdrawn from the main or stem-molecule of Alcohol, leav- 
ing the Radicle molecule still clinging. It is an Aldehyde that 
gives the aroma to Cinnamon, Cassia, Benzoin and other odor- 
ous things. 

What are the Ketones ? 

A third great group, called after the Greek name for Whale. 
They are made from the Aldehydes, with certain changes in the 
subsidiary molecules or Radicles, With one of the Ketones, 
Methyl-Phenyl-Ketone, by the action of Nitric Acid, Soda-Lime 
and Zinc-dust, the chemists make Indigo-blue (Aniline). 

What are the Organic Acids? 

A fourth great group, in which is Vinegar, or Acetic Acid. 
We have shown, in a previous chapter, how Vinegar is made 
from common Alcohol. Each of the Organic Acids may be made 
from some one of the Alcohols. Two atoms of Hydrogen are 
taken away and one atom of Oxygen joins the new molecule. 



CHEMISTRY. 247 

What are the Anhydrides and Acid Halides? 

A fifth great group, related to the Organic Acids as Ethers 
are to Alcohols. All Oxygen acids were first known as 
Anhydrides. Anhydrides are the Ethers of Acid Radicles. An 
Anhydride is often a heated Organic Acid. Add water to an 
Anhydride and it becomes an Organic Acid. The Acid Halides 
are the Organic Acids in which atoms of the Halogens or salt- 
producers, that is, Bromine, Chlorine, Fluorine and Iodine, are 
concerned. 

What are the Ethereal Salts ? 

A sixth great group of the Carbon Compounds. Any acid, 
Organic or Inorganic, Carbon or non-Carbon, may combine with 
Alcohols so as to form Ethereal Salts. Ethereal Salts may be 
normal or acid. Many Acids form Ethereal Salts by seeking the 
little sub-molecule that attaches to the Alcohol molecule. The 
theory of the Ethereal Salt molecule represents it as very com- 
plex, although only three Elements enter into it. Their atoms 
form rings, or squares, or cubes with certain atoms as centres, 
or certain layers. Nature forms the greater number of these 
Ethereal Salts. 

Name some Ethereal Salts that are well known. 

The oil of wintergreen owes its fragrance to a four-layered 
molecule which makes Methyl-Salicylate. The Oleins, Palmitins 
and Stearins are all Ethereal Salts of Glycerin. You will best 
understand what Glycerin is by remembering the old name of 
Glucose — that is, Glycose, and you know what Glucose is. (See 
Sugar.) Glycerine is a highly important chemical. The Glu- 
cosides are Ethereal Salts, and they are contained in many of 
the vegetable coloring-matters, like Madder. What we know 
as Vanilla is a Glucoside, or Ethereal Salt. 

What are Orga7io-Metallic Bodies ? 

A seventh group of the Carbons that descend from the Hydro- 
Carbons. There are twenty-nine of these bodies known. They 
are not merely Organic or Carbon compounds that contain 
mineral Elements, but the Hydro-Carbon sub-molecule or Radi- 
cle must directly hold the metal atom, and not be connected 
merely by a chain of other atoms. The molecule of Zinc Ethide, 



248 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



an example of Organo-Metallic bodies, is theorized as a row of 
four molecules, made of ten atoms. The last molecule is a 
Hydro-Carbon Radicle or molecule, and it touches the Zinc 
atom. Touching this chain of four molecules, but not touching 
the Zinc atom, are two other molecules of two atoms each of 
Hydrogen, These Organo-Metallic bodies serve as tools with 
which the chemists seek new or old results with other Elements, 
and are very useful. 

What are the Amines? 

An eighth group, highly important in a popular sense, because 
they contain the celebrated Aniline. The Amines are all deri- 




Fig. 93J4, 



APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE AMMONIA IN PLANTS AND 
VEGETABLE EXTRACTS. 



vations of Ammonia, which we will speak of when we reach the 
Element Nitrogen. The names of these salts usually end with 
amine. 

I am particularly desirous of knowing what Aniline is. 

It takes its name from the Indigo-plant, which is called by the 
botanists Indigofera Anil. Its chemical name is Phenylamine. 
If we take its name to pieces w r e shall find phene, coal-tar, yl } an 



M 




CHEMISTRY. 



249 



acid Radicle or sub-molecule, and amine, a derivative of 
Ammonia. Aniline was first distilled from Indigo by the agency 

of a Potassium compound. It is 
found in coal tar oils. It is manu- 
factured on a large scale for dye- 
stuffs by reducing - Nitro-benzine 
with Iron and Vinegar, and has 
replaced all vegetable colors. 

How does Aniline look? 

It is a colorless, oily liquid, 
having a peculiar odor. Millions 
of dollars worth of this substance 
or its compounds are imported 
each year into the United States. 
It is united with other compounds 
to make all the colors with which 
we are acquainted. These dyes 
may be used for all the cloths, 
leathers, papers, inks, candies, cel- 
luloids, horn-goods, ivories, etc. 

What is Aniline Red? 
It comes in the form of Rosani- 
line Salts, a compound of Aniline 
and Toluidine (certain molecules 
of Carbon, Hydrogen and Nitrogen). It is the most important 
of all these multitudinous dyes. It makes magnificent green 
crystals, soluble in water, with a color varying from a beautiful 
cherry-red to a crimson. The number of possible Aniline Reds 
is beyond computation. Saffranine is an Aniline Pink, or Aniline 
Oxide. 

Are there Aniline Violets and Blues ? 

Vast numbers of them. In the name of one — Ethyliodate of 
Triethylrosaniline — you may take apart the compounds (of 
Ether, acid Radicle, Iodine and third Ether, acid Radicle, red 
Aniline) of which one Blue color is made. It is theorized as 
containing a chain of nine molecules of Carbon, Hydrogen, 
Nitrogen and Iodine, sixty-one atoms in all, disposed in a corn- 




Fig. 94. WOULFF'S COLOR1 
METER, FOR INSPECTING ANI 
LINE DYES. 



250 



THE FIRl SIDE UNIVERSITY. 



plex manner. The Blues are catalogued as Mauves, Hoffman's 
Violets and Blues, Phenyl-Rosanilines, Tolyl-Rosanilines and 
a great class of secret Blue colors. 

What are the Aniline Greens? 

They are classed as the Aldehyde Greens, the Iodide Greens, 
Iodide of Ethyl Greens and Potassic Chlorate of Ethyl Greens. 
The wonderful Aldehyde Green was discovered by accident, 
Cherpin, the chemist, being in search of a good Blue. This 
Green is chosen for silks. 

Notice the other colors. 

Aniline Yellows are little used in dyeing or printing cloths. 
The celebrated Picric Acid is used. There are several Browns 
and Maroons. The best Grays are still too costly. Good Blacks 
are not yet secured, but cotton, silk or wool, may be colored to 
a shade closely approaching black. In silk and wool dyeing, no 
mordant is needed. The largest manufactories of these won- 
derful combinations of molecules are in Germany. 

What is an Amine — such as you have named? 

It is a salt produced by the substitution in Ammonia of non- 
acid Radicles, or sub-molecules, for Hydrogen atoms — the latter 
are taken out. The Amines are called Compound Ammonias. 
When the Radicle is acid {yl) the Amine becomes an Amide. 

What are the Amides ? 

They are, as you see, related to the Amines as the Aldehydes 
are related to the Alcohols and the Anhydrides to the Organic 
Acids. They are the ninth and last group that we must notice 
of the great phalanx of Organic or Carbon Compounds. 

Define the term Organic Chemistry. 

If, in the taking apart of a compound, certain molecules come 
away together, it is held that they are not a necessary part of 
the larger molecule to which they clung. That larger molecule 
must have been organic. That is, made up of groups of atoms 
rather than of atoms. Thus, although Acetic Acid (of which 
Vinegar is a diluted state) is made of four atoms of Hydrogen, 
two atoms of Carbon, and two atoms of Oxygen, but one of its 
atoms of Hydrogen will come away and give place to an atom 



CHEMISTRY. 251 

of metal: Again, one of the Oxygen atoms will come away with 
a Chlorine atom. Thus there is left a union of two atoms of 
Carbon, three atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen as 
the inner or stable molecule. This molecule, C 2 H 3 0, is there- 
fore called Acetyl — that is, it is the sour Radicle of Acetic Acid, 
and the Acid itself is theorized as a chain of one Hydrogen, one 
Oxygen, clinging to that Radicle, C 2 H 3 0. This is Organic or 
Structural Chemistry. 

What is its leading characteristic, more specifically described? 

Organic Chemistry is the science of Compound Radicles, and 
is largely made up of treatment of Radicles made of Hydrogen 
and Carbon. 

Whas is the great exception ? 

Cyanogen, a colorless gas composed of Nitrogen and Carbon, 
called Cyanogen, because it makes blue, discovered by Gay- 
Lussac, of Paris, in 1815. He isolated the substance, and 
thereby found the first compound Radicle. This extremely 
poisonous molecule of Carbon and Nitrogen has a sign of its own 
— Cy — and unites so greedily with the metals that the metallic 
Cyanides also have a sign — MCy. 

For what is Cyanogen most notable ? 

For its uses in extracting gold from its ores and other sur- 
roundings. The Metallic Cyanides of Iron and Potassium are 
very important. Cyanogen and its compounds form a link 
between Organic and Inorganic Chemistry. 

Proceed to the other great branch of Chemistry. 

Of course, there is no other branch of Chemistry after the 
whole history of Carbon has been given, but the mind con- 
veniently divides the subject at the point where substances are 
to be studied without reference to Carbon or to Hydro-Carbons, 
or to Hydroxlys — that is, as we have shown, Hydrogen and 
Oxygen in a sour Radicle. 

What is Nitrogen ? 

Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, incondensable gas. 
that constitutes four-fifths of the air we breathe. Air is not a 
compound of Nitrogen and Oxygen, but a mixture, like salt and 



252 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



pepper mixed. Nitrogen is necessary to all animal and vegetable 

tissues. It therefore becomes one of the most useful commercial 

products, and yet it is necessary 
to obtain it or its useful com- 
pounds rather from the out- 
worn processes of nature than 
from the free air in which it 
forms the chief Element. The 
fertilizers which are exported 
from America each year rapidly 
approach the ten million dollar 

mark in value. They are generally called Nitrates, thus 

expressing their origin. 




Fig. 95. A NITROGEN BULB. 




Fig. 96. APPARATUS FOR QUICK ANALYSIS OF AIR, ETC. 

What is Xitro-glyccrin ? 

It is the fluid which is soaked into sticks of earth and called 



CHEMISTRY. 



253 






dynamite, or other blasting preparations of the kind. It is a 
Carbon-Oxygen-Hydrogen compound, into whose molecule a 

Radicle molecule of Nitrogen-Oxy- 
gen has been introduced. It is 
made by dropping glycerin into 
very cold Sulphuric and Nitric Acids 
mixed. The mixture is put into 
water, and the Nitro-glycerin set- 
tles. It is the most effective blasting 
preparation in general use. Nobel, 
who invented the means of using 
it, died at San Remo, Italy, in 
December, 1896. 

What is Ammonia ? 

It is a pungent gas, the Nitride 
of Hydrogen. We see it as Aqua 
Ammoniae, and we smell it in many 
decomposing substances. It was 
named at the Temple of Jupiter 
Ammon, in Libya, where it was 
made in the camel stables, ages 
ago, when the god Amen was the 
deity of the chief city of Egypt. 




Fig. 97. SCHELLBACH'S APPARA- 
TUS fob MEASURING NITROGEN 
IN GUN COTTON AND OTHER 
EXPLOSIVES. 




Fig. 98. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF AMMONIA. 



254 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



For what is Ammonia celebrated in Chemistry, aside from its 
value as a fertilizer ? 

It is the base of the Amines, which we have described. In 
:he Ammonia, one atom of Nitrogen remains stable while the 
three atoms of Hydrogen are variously played upon by Hydro- 
Carbon Radicles. In the great Aniline group, the base was a 
double molecule of Ammonia, toward which a molecule of six 
Carbons and one Hydrogen approached, whereupon two of the 
Hydrogens in the Ammonia left their own molecule and saturated 
into the new comer, and all fifteen of the atoms, thus organized, 
became one molecule which would now act as a base for all the 
dyestuffs. 

How are the Nitrates of Commerce prepared? 

By the boiling of animal tissues, the waste of the slaughter- 
houses. The product is dried like malt, and sold by the ton. 
It is deplored by the scientists that the fertility of the United 




Fig. 99. APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING THE SOIL. 

States is slowly but surely being sapped by the cities. One of 
the most eloquent passages of Victor Hugo recounts how Rome 
first cast Europe, then cast Asia, then cast Africa into her great 
sewer, and brought on the dark ages. 

What is Oxygen ? 

The most important of the Elements in a physical sense, 
because it is the most abundant. It is the chief part, by weight, 
in water. It is a fifth of the air. It unites with all the other 



CHEMISTRY. 



255 







Fig. 100. WOULFF'S BOT- 
TLE, FOR MAKING 
OXYGEN. 



Elements, but never in more than five ways It was first 

isolated by Priestly, in 1774. It was 
called Oxygen, sour-maker, because it 
was then believed that all acids must 
have Oxygen. 

What is Ozone f 

Under the action of Electricity, Oxy- 
gen contracts in volume, and its mole- 
cules, instead of holding two atoms, as 
in a natural state, hold three atoms. 
This substance is Ozone, which has an 
unpleasant smell, and may be noted 
in the open air after a thunder shower. 
Ozone has, at times, been regarded with 
favor as a health-giving gas. But pure 
Ozone has never been isolated. 

What is Water? 

It is a union of two parts of Hydrogen 
and one part of Oxygen. These are highly 
expanded gases, while Water is a very substantial 
liquid. When the two gases are brought 
together at an ordinary temperature, they do 
not unite, but the introduction of great sudden 
heat will cause them to unite with explosion, 
and the "ashes" will be water — of course, only 
a little water, considering the great bulk of the 
gases that made the Water. When the Watei is 
heated into gas, it has only two-thirds the vol- 
ume of the previous mixture of two gases. It 
was at first believed that Water was eight parts 
Hydrogen and one part Oxygen. 

For what is Water remarkable ? 

It is a neutral compound, and yet there are few 
F Am 10 GAUGB E °F^R substances that are not dissolved by it. It is 
measuring pres- easily boiled, and expands into sixteen hundred 

sure down to One j ■ 7 r 

ten millionth volumes as steam. Under pressure, the boiling- 

OF ATMOSrilERE. r ' 



i 



256 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

point is reached at a much lower mark than 212 degrees, and its 
readiness to serve the engineer in steam-boilers was the cause 
of so many explosions before its characteristics were understood. 
It will absorb more heat than any other substance, and there- 
fore furnishes the standard of heat-units. When a substance 
will not dissolve in water, it is tasteless. It expands as it gets 
cold, then contracts, then expands, as ice. It is a pale blue in 
color. The abundance of Water, and its usefulness in the 
laboratory, have perhaps made Chemistry as an advanced 
science possible. 

Is all Water alike ? 

Yes. Water from any spring, from the ocean, or from the 
most distant part of the earth may be cleared of its impurities, 
and readily furnishes the chemist or the druggist with aqua para 
— pure water in molecules of H 2 0. The ocean is the prime 




Fig. 102. A DISTILLERY FOR WATER. 

source. Vapor is constantly rising and the vapor is precipi- 
tated over the earth. Eight-elevenths of the Water returns to 
the ocean through rivers. It has a chemical sign beside H a O. 
It is Aq. 

What is Hydrogen ? 

Hydrogen is a gas. It is the lightest of the Elements, and 
therefore the standard of their weight. It is named Hydrogen, 
the Water-maker, When Cavendish discovered and isolated it, 
in 1776, he called it Inflammable Air. It burns in the free state 
in volcanoes, in the Sun, the Stars and the Nebulae. It is the 






CHEMISTRY. 



257 



base of all acids — that is, all acids are salts of Hydrogen, but 
all acids are desirous to give up their Hydrogen for a metal. We 




Fig. 103. APPARATUS FOR MEASURING VOLUME OF HYDROGEN. 

say it is the base of all acids, but we are without an acid with 
which to make the first salt — the beginning of the system. The 
acids are innumerable, and there are atoms of Hydrogen in each 
of them. Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Sulphur, Cyanogen (NH), 
Fluorine, and other Elements may take the place of Oxygen, 
so that Hydrogen has pushed Oxygen out of its place as the 
" acid-maker." We have already shown the importance of the 
Hydro-Carbon molecules. 

What are the Halogens ? 

Chlorine, Fluorine, Bromine and Iodine. (See Salt.) They 
are the Salt-Producers. Fluorine has not been isolated. Bromine 
is a red liquid. Iodine is a black, crystalline solid. Chlorine, 
as we have said, is a green gas. It comes into market in copper 
cylinders, and under pressure as a liquid. These four Elemen:s 
are always grouped together, and where a Radicle will cling to 
the molecules of one of them, it will cling to all. The metallic 
crystals are alike. 

17 



258 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



For what is Chlorine famous? 

It is in table salt. It is in the Gold compound that has been 
taken as a specific cure by alcoholic invalids all over the world. 
It is in Chloroform (Formic acid is from red ants) , the wonder- 
ful anaesthetic or pain-killer. It is used in making gelatine. It 




Fig. 104. KAEHLER'S GAS GENERATOR, FOR MAKING CHLORINE. 

is in Chlorate of Potash, used in matches. The Chlorides of 
Silver, Sulphur and Zinc are in daily use. Chloride of Lime is 
bleaching powder. It is a leading disinfectant. Hydrochloric 
acid, as now used in the arts, is a bye-product of the alkali 
manufactories. The gas once escaped in the air and blighted 
surrounding vegetation, but laws were passed to stop this, with 
the result of compelling better economies. Our salt, our matches, 
our clothes, all our paper, our medicines (including Chloral — 
from Chlorine and Alcohol), some of our foods, and many of our 
implements and ornaments owe their existence more or less 
directly to Chlorine. It was isolated by Scheele in 1774. 

What of Iodine ? 

It was named from a Greek word for violet-colored, because 



CHEMISTRY. 



359 



of the appearance of its vapor. Its chief use commercially is as 
Methyl-Iodide, in the production of Aniline dyes. The photogra- 
phers use it with Cadmium, Potassium and Ammonia (NH 3 ). 
Iodoform (CHI 3 ) is one of the most odorous chemicals, outdoing 
Carbolic acid. The Iodides of Potassium, Iron and other metals 
are well-known medicines. 

What of Bromine ? 

It is named from bromos, "a bad smell." It was discovered 
in 1826, by Balard. There are twenty-four grains of Bromine to 
the gallon of ocean-water. It is prepared from the salt-springs 
of West Virginia and Pennsylvania by the hundreds of thousands 
of pounds. Its chief use is in medicine as Bromide of Potassium. 
The Bromides are taken at the drug- stores by people who feel 
"nervous," and with Chloral, have done much to destroy 

health through unscientific use. Phy- 
sicians should always be consulted. 

Is Fluorine abundant ? 

It is widely diffused, but in small 
quantities. It exists in sea-water, 
always in teeth and bones — more in 
fossil bones than those of present 
formation. It will corrode any vessel 
in which it is gathered, and even glass 
cannot be used. It is related to 
Oxygen as well as to Chlorine by 
its effect on other Elements. 

What is the Sulphur group? 

Sulphur, Selenium and Tellurium. 
Their atomic weights are as though 
two weights of Sulphur had been 
taken to make Selenium, and two of 
Selenium to make Tellurium. 

What is Sulphui 

Pig. 106. MACHINE FOR ME AS- , . ve ll ( )w earth-like solid 

URING VOLUME OF THE U 1S * y ellow earttl UKe SOllQ > 

ELEMENT FLUORINE, coarse-grained and tasteless. It melts 




CHEMISTRY. 



261 



into a thin liquid. At a heat of say 425 degrees Fahren- 
heit it gets so thick that it will not run, and is dark. At about 
900 degrees it boils, producing an orange-colored vapor. It 
makes various crystals, and, like Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and 
the other Allotropic Elements, may be the hiding-place of new 
Elements yet to be isolated. 

What is Brimstone ? 

Brimstone is Sulphur. Brimstone is the old name, meaning 
burning stone y because this stone, or stick, set on fire like hard 
coal 3 would make a fume, and this fume would bleach cloth or 
straw, or would kill insects or bacteria in rooms. Animal hair 




Pig. 107. APPARATUS K()K FINDING AND MEASURING SULPHUR. 



has 4 per cent, of this Element. The Albuminoids and all vege- 
table and animal cells have molecules of Sulphur. Sulphur is 
the predominating Element in Asafoetida, Mustard, Onions and 
Garlic. It is present in Eggs. Sicily, California and Louisiana 
are the chief commercial sources of Brimstone, or Elementary 
Sulphur. It is mined in tunnels and shafts sometimes 325 feet deep 



262 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What does Tliio mean? 

Sulphur, from the Greek word theion, Sulphur. There are 
nine kinds of Sulphur Acid, all made of Hydrogen, Sulphur, 
Oxygen. In all of them two atoms of Hydrogen are used, and 
from one to five atoms of Sulphur join in the molecule. This 
presses the chemists for names, and they resort to tliio. The 
nine Sulphur acids take the following names, the molecules with 
fewest atoms coming first in the list: Hyposulphurous Acid, 
Sulphurous Acid, Sulphuric Acid, Thiosulphuric Acid, Anhydro- 
sulphuric Acid, Dithionic (two Sulphur atoms) Acid, Trithionic 
(three) Acid, Tetrathionic (four) Acid, and Pentathionic (five) 
Acid. In each of the last four Acids there are six atoms of 
Oxygen. 

What are the uses of Sulphur ? 

The Element itself is largely used to make Sulphuric Acid, 
and for fifty years the scientists have claimed that the quantity 
of Sulphuric Acid per capita used by any nation w T as the best 
gauge of its advancement in civilization and comfort. Besides 
Sulphuric Acid, Sulphur is used in gunpowder; in various 
cements, especially for electrical isolation; for the vulcanization 
(that is, practically, the utilization) of India-rubber; for the 
protection of plants threatened by insects ; in the taking of 
casts, etc. 

What is Sulphuric Acid used for ? 

You have its effects in all cloths and papers that have been 
bleached, in all brushes; in nearly all leathers. You will note its 
use in Sugar-making. There is no art that has not found itself 
indebted to this compound. It is used in making fertilizers, and 
in smelting. It has been the efficient agent of the chemist in 
every laboratory. 

How does Sulphuric Acid look f 

It is a dense, colorless, oily liquid known popularly as the Oil 
of Vitriol. It has no smell, and is nearly twice as heavy as 
water. Its acid taste is renowned in the adjective vitriolic, 
which, in English, is usually taken to mean all that is biting 
and resentful. 



CHEMISTRY. 263 

Give the uses of other Sulphur compounds. 

Sulphuretted Hydrogen is used for tests in the laboratory. 
The Chloride of Sulphur is used in making sheet rubber. Sul- 
phurous Acid is a great bleaching and clarifying agent, it being 
merely a weaker compound than Sulphuric Acid. Hyposulphite 
of Soda is used in photography and paper-making. The Sul- 
phates of Ammonia (Nitrogen), of Potassium, of Sodium, of 
Lime (Calcium), of Barium (called Barytes), of Magnesium 
(called Epsom Salts), and of Iron (called Copperas), as well as 
Gypsum (Calcium), play leading parts in the drama of our com- 
mercial industries. The Sulphate of Aluminium is the active 
ingredient in Alum, and makes the size for paper. The beauti- 
ful blue crystals which you associate with Electricity and all 
wet batteries, are Sulphate of Copper. This is blue vitriol, and 
the Electrotyper and all other Electrolyzers use it. In medicine, 
the Sulphates are often administered with the commonest medi- 
cines as an aid to their dissolution in the human system, and 
this is conspicuously true of Quinine, which is a Sulphate. 

What is Quinine? 

In the seventeenth century the wife of Count Cinchon, viceroy 
of Peru, was cured of intermittent fever by the bark of trees 
growing on the Andes, and took the medicine to Spain. There 
it was called Peruvian Bark and Jesuits" Bark. From this red 
bark a white, fleecy powder is made — the Sulphate. The method 
of obtaining this powder has always been kept as a chemical 
secret, but improving chemistry has greatly cheapened" the ex- 
pense. The formula of our Quinine shows only one atom of 
Sulphur in one hundred and nine atoms, and is given as follows : 

(C, H, 4 N l O,),.H,SO 4 +2H,O. 

That is to say that two of the combinations named in the 
parenthesis cling especially together; this double molecule 
clings very closely to the molecule with the Sulphur atom in 
it — II 2 S0 4 — and there are also two molecules of water that may 
come or go, according to the heat, and sometimes the water 
increases. Quinine, under a doctor's order, is one of the best 
medicines that man possesses. 



2G4 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Describe Selenium and Tellurium. 

Selenium is Allotropic or changeable, like Sulphur and Car- 
bon. (See Radiophone.) As a metal it would break like gray 
cast iron. It was isolated in 1817 by Berzelius. Tellurium is a 
silver-white resplendent metal. It was isolated by Muller von 
Reichenstein in 1782. Both these Elements occur only in rare 
ores. Selenium was named after the moon and Tellurium after 
the earth. With Sulphur, as gases, they combine with Hydrogen 
as H 2 S, or H 2 Se, or H 2 Te, which makes a substance akin to 
water (H,0). All the rare metals are preserved in naphtha or 
petroleum. 

What is Phosphorus? 

An Element of a light amber color, semi-transparent when 
first isolated. It becomes opaque, and looks like whitish wax. 




10714. MITSCHERLICH'S APPARATUS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF 

PHOSPHORUS. 



It is never found pure, and is isolated only after an extended 
process. It emits a white smoke when exposed to the air, and 
takes fire at a temperature a little below blood heat. It shines 



CHEMISTRY. 265 

in the dark. It is a virulent poison. It is Allotropic, like Car- 
bon, Sulphur, etc., and its commonest Allotropic form is known 
to us as Red Precipitate, which goes back to the whitish wax 
under the action of heat. It was isolated by Brand, a German 
alchemist, in 1678, who thought he had now discovered a sub- 
stance that would " ennoble" Silver into Gold. But he had 
done something far more wonderful, by making Matches possible. 
(See Matches ) 

How does Nature use Phosphorus ? 

Always as a salt of Phosphoric Acid, which is H 3 P0 4 . These 
Phosphates are present in most soils, rocks, and river and spring 
waters. Phosphates are necessary to the life of plants and 
animals. In plants they are found in the sea. In -animals 
Calcium Phosphate is the main part of the bones, and Phos- 
phates are an important part of the blood and tissue. 

How does man use Phosphorus ? 

Chiefly in match-making. We also import millions of dollars' 
worth of phosphates for fertilizers. Phosphorus plays an 
important part in the manufacture of Iodide of Methyl, for 
Aniline dyes. Phosphorus paste, or red ointment, is a renowned 
destroyer of all vermin. It is mixed with flour. Medical men 
are giving attention to the administration of Hyphosphites — that 
is, Hypophosphorous Acid (HPH 2 2 ), with a base like Sulphur, 
Quinine, Strychnine, Opium, etc. Acid Phosphates have become 
popular as tonics, on the theory that they furnish food that 
indoor life denies. On all these matters, the advice of a physician 
is at all times necessary. 

What is Boron ? 

A dark brown powder, or also a powder made of brown crys- 
tals which are nearly as hard as diamonds and as powerful in 
reflecting light. It is thus Allotropic. 

What is Borax ? 

Borax is the biborate of Sodium — Na 2 B 4 7 . It is used in our 
households for cleansing purposes. It was once called Tineal, 
and came to India from Thibet, and thence to the rest of the 
world. It forms on the bottom of a lake in Dead Man's Land, 



266 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

California, and is hauled out of that forsaken country in the 
largest wagons ever used, drawn by ten teams of mules. This 
deposit is the best borax that has been found, and can be used 
by assayers in its crude state. Borax is of special value in the 
melting and refining of ores, in glass-making and pottery. It is 
used as a preservative of meats, for detergent soaps and washing 
compounds, and as a gargle in medicines. Boracic Acid enters 
into the fancy grades of matches, and a fine lacquer for carriages 
and railway cars is made by the aid of Borate of Manganese. 

What is Silicon ? 

The great Element that forms the earth's crust, in rocks and 
sand. It was isolated by Berzelius in 1823. It is Allotropic, or 
changeable. It is a dull brown powder, called amorphous 
(without form) Silicon. It may be converted by heat into a 
substance like Graphite. It may also be obtained in large, 
beautiful iron gray needles called adamantine Silicon. Its Oxide 
is Silica, of which there are four kinds, and three of them, 
quartz, sand and opal, are well known. Silica is made into 
glass, paint and soap. Where a metal is added to Silica (sand) 
the compound becomes a Silicate. Silicon has many of the 
peculiarities of Carbon. Silica (sand) was considered absolutely 
non-volatile, until 1896. In that year M. Moissan turned it into a 
violet colored gas. It is proof against the action of water and 
ordinary mineral acids. This makes it especially valuable as a 
material for plaster, cement, pottery, etc. The following atoms 
4Si H (OC 3 H 5 ) 3 form a molecule in a compound which has a par- 
ticularly long name — Triethylsiliconorthoformate. Here we may 
espy "Three-ether sour radicle-silicon-straight-red-ant-like. " The 
sign shows two groups of molecules — the first being four mole- 
cules of Silicon-Hydrogen, the second being three molecules, 
each having one Oxygen, three Carbons, five Hydrogen atoms. 
All these are organized as one greater molecule. The sign for the 
sand at the lake or sea shore is SiO s . There is, of course, a 
process in nature where Silicon becomes a gelatin, and may 
pass into the structures of vegetable and animal things, but the 
process has not yet been discovered. 






CHEMISTRY. 26? 

What is the Alkali group of Metals ? 

Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Caesium. These are 
white metals, which turn to gas only at high temperatures. 
Lithium gives a red color to flame ; Sodium salts an intense 
yellow ; and Potassium, Rubidium and Caesium a violet. Caesium 
has not been completely isolated, but is a liquid metal. 

What is the history of Lithium ? 

It was discovered by Arfvedson in 1817. The metal was suc- 
cessfully prepared in 1855 by Bunsen. It weighs only six-tenths 
as much as water and floats in petroleum, where it must be 
kept, to prevent mixture with Oxygen. The Lithia salts are 
held in high esteem in mineral waters, and some of these springs 
have been famous in America for over a century. 

What are the uses of Sodium ? 

We have spoken of this Element in the Chapters on Bread, 
Salt, Soap and elsewhere. It is an abundant substance, but 
nowhere free. It is prepared commercially in cakes of metal, 
wrapped in paraffine paper to prevent oxidation, and packed 
closely in tin boxes. The process of converting salt into Soda 
is regarded by some chemists as the most valuable and fertile 
discovery of all times. It was the conception of Le Blanc, who 
killed himself in a workhouse at Paris. He added chalk to a 
sulphate and charcoal mixture, and fluxed the whole in crucibles, 
obtaining the Soda for which the Academy had long before 
offered a prize. 

What is Salt made into at the Soda factories? 

Into Chlorate of Soda for Aniline black colors ; into Carbonate 
of Soda (Soda) into salt-cake for glass and caustic Soda and 
black ash for soap. Washing Soda (Sal Soda) is made of crystals 
of Sodium, Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen. In many industrial 
ways the two great alkalis, Sodium and Potassium, are in close 
connection. We must not forget the important p \rt that Sodium 
plays at our Soda fountains, which, in latter d..ys, have risen as 
the most powerful rivals the dram shops have ever had. By 
means of the Soda fountain, the list of beverages, medicines and 
chemicals administered is yearly growing more voluminous. 



268 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is Potassium ? 

The more abundant and important of the two great alkalis, 
the other one being Sodium. All vegetables draw up into their 
fibres far more Potassium than Sodium. Herbs contain a larger 
percentage than trees. Potassium is a bluish white, soft metal, 
lighter than water. It is obtained in a compound form, gener- 
ally with Carbon, Sulphur, Chlorine and Oxygen, by running 
water through wood ashes and boiling down the lye into potash. 
This potash, or concentrated lye, may be purified into pearl ash. 
Wood-burning industries still flourish in Hungary for the sole 
purpose of making potash. We export many hundreds of 
thousands of pounds of pot and pearl ash. The commercial 
name is Potash, and Chlorate, Muriate (Chloride), Nitrate 
(Saltpetre) and many other forms are imported in great quanti- 
ties, but not as freely as the Sodas. The greatest Potash 
industry is at the salt wells of Stassfurt in Germany. 

What are the chief uses of Potassium ? 

For soap, for glass, for baking powder, for medicine, as a pre- 
servative of meats and other perishable products, for bleaching, 
for photo-engraving, for gunpowder and for fireworks, In 
soap and glass-making and baking, the connection with Sodium 
is very close. 

What will the four metals in this group do that is peculiar ? 

A pellet of Potassium, etc., thrown upon water at once bursts 
into a violet flame, and the burning metal floats upon the water 
without much contact. When the last remnant, through cool- 
ing, is wet by the water, there is an explosion. It is the Hydro- 
gen that burns, and the Potassium fumes that give the color. 
Thus water is actually decomposed. 

What is Saltpetre ? 

It is a combination of one atom of Potassium, one of Nitro- 
gen, and three of Oxygen. These atoms come together on the 
surface of the earth in India and on the Chilian coast. Saltpetre 
is used for the making of Nitric Acid by the meat-canners and 
packers, by the gunpowder-makers, and the manufacturers of 
fireworks. 



CHEMISTRY. 269 

What is Gunpowder ? 

Gunpowder is a dry mixture of about seventy-five parts Salt- 
petre, thirteen parts charcoal, and twelve parts Sulphur. Salt- 
petre holds three thousand times as much Oxygen as air of the 
same bulk. Sudden heat liberates this Oxygen, it combines with 
the Carbon in the Charcoal to make carbonic acid and other 
gases, while the Potassium in the Saltpetre, having served its 
purpose, drops back after the explosion, into the residue or 
ashes. This mixture practically put an end to walled cities, and 
gave Europe the control of Asia and America. 

What Potassiums are used in Photography ? 

The Iodide and the Bromide. The Iodide is the great medicine 
which eliminates Mercury from the human system, and attacks 
skin diseases. Potassium is in Prussic Acid, Oxalic acid, the 
Cream of Tartar of our baking powders; in the Sulphates; in 
many paints and colors. 

What are the uses of Chlorate of Potassium ? 

It is the great agent of the artillerists, the match-makers, and 
the pyrotechnists or makers of fireworks. The salt is perma- 
nent when exposed to the air. Mixed with combustibles, it 
serves as a store of highly condensed Oxygen atoms, and on 
their liberation and expansion heat must rapidly develop. 

What is to be further said of Ccesium and Rubidium ? 

These metals, completing the group, are treated with Potassium 
in the books. Caesium is remarkable as being the most positive 
in its Electrical action of all the Elements. Both Caesium and 
Rubidium were discovered by Kirchoff and Bunsen, in 1860-1, 
by the Spectroscope. Rubidium and Caesium are separated 
with the greatest difficulty, and their molecules are present in 
sea water. 

Pass now to the Metals of the Alkaline Earths. 

In this group of the seventy-five or more Elements are 
Calcium, Strontium and Barium. Of these you hear much of 
Calcium and Barium. In Calcimine, Calcine, Calc, Calcareous, 
and in Barytes, a material for paint, fireworks and adulterants, 
you may readily place the two Elements. When you see " red 



270 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

fire/' it is the combustion of crystals formed of one atom of 
Strontium, two of Sodium and ten of Oxygen. 

Is Calcium an important Element? 

Yes, The people deal with it familiarly as lime in its countless 
uses, but chiefly as a part of the leading cement of the world, 
whereby all brick and stone walls are made. It is a leading 
component of our glassware. Lime is the Oxide of Calcium. 
Calcium is a light yellow metal, softer than gold, and very 
ductile. It is one of the chief Elements of the solid earth. 
These three Elements, like the group that preceded, decompose 
water, and drive or let off the Hydrogen, but less readily. 
They burn with the greatest brilliancy when ignited in air. 
The Calcium light of our boyhood days was the precursor of the 
Electric light. The Calcium light now bids fair to come back 
to us, as one of the great factories at Niagara Falls is making 
Calcium Carbide for Acetylene gas. Strontium is a deeper 
yellow metal, and Barium is supposed to closely resemble it. 

What is the Magnesium Group ? 

Glucinum, Magnesium, Zinc, Cadmium and Mercury. Gluci- 
num was called Beryllium, because it was discovered in the 
beryl and emerald. Glucinum is from a Greek word for sweet. 

How is the Emerald crystal made ? 

It is theorized as a molecule of three Glucinum and three 
Oxygen atoms, clinging to a molecule of two Aluminium and 
three Oxygen atoms, and these cling to a larger molecule of six 
Silicon and twelve Oxygen atoms, the latter themselves organ- 
ized. Glucinum is closely related to Zinc and Mercury. It is a 
white malleable metal. It was isolated in 1798 by Vaquelin. 

What is Zinc ? 

A rather hard bluish white metal now well known to the 
people, but once only known in its Carbonate, called Calamine 
stone. It was used in the making of brass, and largely for brass 
jewelry. It was called Spelter, but Pewter was a compound of 
other metals. The Chinese sent Zinc to India, and thence it 
reached England. We know it best in the household on account 
of the Zinc-board under our stoves, the lining of our bath-tubs, 



CHEMISTRY. 271 

our so-called Galvanized wires, which are merely dipped in Zinc, 
and our hot-water boilers. But it forms one-third of the material 
for all our pins (with Copper). Zinc is an important part of the 
shining brass which enters more and more into the handsome 
trimmings of our doors and windows, our faucets, and the orna- 
ments of machinery, although Nickel has become a substitute 
for stove decoration, and in other ways. Zinc has served as the 
basis of most of the newspaper pictures. It is a good metal for 
casts. 

What is White Zinc ? 

It is the Oxide. This has come into great use as a substitute 
or adulterant of White Lead, the main pigment of civilization. 
It does not cover so well as White Lead paint, but it is not 
poisonous, and does not discolor in the Sulphurous atmosphere 
of a city. The Zinc we see is not so pure as the Element Zinc, 
yet there is no great difference. 

What is Cadmium ? 

It is an Element usually present with commercial Zinc, but 
improves the metallic compound. Both Zinc and Cadmium 
with Magnesium are bluish white metals which will shine in dry 
air, but in moist air gather the greasy film familiar on the sur- 
face of Zinc, which is a thin Oxide. 

What is Magnesium ? 

It is a metal more like Silver than its fellow-metals. In its 
Oxide, which we call Magnesia, it is disseminated throughout 
nature, in earth, rocks and water, forming one of the materials 
without which life would cease. Pure Magnesium, before the 
days of the Electric light, was sold in ribbons or wires, for the 
purpose of furnishing a brilliant light. The wire might be lit 
in a candle-flame, and would then burn by itself. 

How do we best know Magnesium ? 

At the drug-store, for our physicians use it as a leading 
therapeutic agent. Epsom Salts, Citrate of Magnesia, and 
other compounds are still used as anti-acids or as purgatives of 
more or less force, as required. Magnesia has been used largely 
in dealing with the troubles of infancy. 



272 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

What are the important Silicates of Magnesium ? 

Asbestos and Meerschaum. There are mountain masses of 
various Silicates. Asbestos, as we see it in our gas-grates, is 
the name of a group of the Hornblende family of mineral rocks, 
and usually contains Magnesia, Alumina, Silica and Oxide of 
Iron. The molecule of Meerschaum is extremely complex, and 
various theories exist in regard to it. 

I desire to knoiv more about Asbestos. 

The greatest mines are in Canada, in the eastern part of 
Quebec. One twenty-fifth of the rock quarried is Asbestos. 
The mineral wool is taken to the United States in train loads. 
The stuff is fed into a stone process grinding mill. After it is 
ground or crushed, it is separated into long and short fibres. 
The short fibres go to the pulp mill, where they are ground fine 
for packing around steam pistons, hot pipes, valves, etc. The 
Ions: fibres are spun into yarn, like wool. The cloth from this 
yarn has a soapy or greasy feel. Theatre curtains may be made 
of this cloth. Asbestos is put in vulcanized rubber and used as 
an insulator. No acid will act on it, therefore the chemist uses 
it all the time. 

What is Mercury ? 

The last and most important metal of the group we are pass- 
ing in review. We often call it Quicksilver. The older nations 
following the Greeks, called it Silver Water, hence its chemical 
name Hydrargyrum. Our household use of Mercury was once 
on our looking-glasses, and is now in our thermometers, and in 
our Calomel and Blue Pill, our Corrosive Sublimate, and our 
red paint called Cinnabar. Mercury has been one of the three 
great sources of red colors for ages, and the Cinnabar (Ver- 
milion) mines of Spain are the oldest works of the mining order 
in existence. Calomel is a compound of Mercury and Chlorine. 
Cinnabar is a union of Sulphur and Mercury. Tin was mixed 
with Mercury for the backs of mirrors before the Silver process 
was used. 

Why do we call it Quicksilver ? 

Because the Latins named it Live Silver — argentum vivum. 
It is a fluid, as you know, of great weight, and its globules, in 



CHEMISTRY. 273 

seeking the lowest place, when they were spilled, acted as if they 
were alive. Quick was an old English synonym of the word 
alive. 

What great uses for Mercury outside of the household can 
you name ? 

Its chief use is probably in extracting Gold at the mines. The 
vacuum-pumps where glass-bulbs are sealed are worked with 
Mercury. Fulminate of Mercury is the explosive by which 
dynamite and other blasts are fired. Good clocks swing Mercury 
pendulums. There are unnumbered uses in the laboratory. 

Why are Copper, Silver and Gold grouped? 

Because they bear certain relations to the Alkali metals, best 
seen in Silver. These three Elements are the ones that man first 
held in high esteem, nor does he yet cease to value them highly. 

What is Copper ? 

A beautiful red metal, of great Electrical conductivity, of great 
ductility and tenacity. It is not dissolved by water, and does 
not oxidize in the air. It was the first metal known to man, and 
with tin formed the bronze which enabled our race to rise above 
the Stone Age. The Electric Age has given it an increased value, 
as the trolley wire and the armature of the Dynamo testify. 
(See Electricity.) 

What are its other uses ? 

Sheets of copper frequently underlie the nickel and silver 
polish of our household utensils. The tin tea-kettle has a copper 
fire-bottom, and many stove-vessels have flat copper bottoms. 
Two-thirds of the inside metal in all our pins is copper, the other 
third being zinc. The cent in our pockets is copper, and the 
money of China is largely copper. The gasolier is usually of 
copper. The blue light at the drug-store is cast by a copper 
solution in a bottle. The hot-water tank or boiler in the city 
kitchen is often of copper. But the great and striking use is in 
the manufactories where liquids are boiled, whether it be sugar- 
cane juice, beets, malt, corn, starch, — stills, condensers, neu- 
tralizes, boilers, vacuum-pans, milk-vats — all are shining copper, 
because of the fair degree of neutrality of the copper molecules. 
Ships are bottomed with copper-plates. 

18 



274 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is the Copper Half-to?ie ? 

A photograph transferred to a plate of Copper, and also 
further engraved by hand, which prints with photographic 
effect. The Copper-plates thus taken of the World's Fair of 
1893 anc * lts exhibits, might be measured by the square mile. 
The making of these pictures has lowered the price of some of 
the magazines, and the people are now offered ideas of the draw- 
ing and lights of the celebrated paintings of the world, and of 
city and landscape scenes that were formerly possessed only by 
travelers. 

What are the great Copper chemicals? 

The Acetate of Copper, or Verdigris, is made like white lead. 
It is used as a pigment, both in water and oil painting and also 
for dyes. Carbonate of Copper furnishes the paints called 
Verditer, Bremen Blue and Bremen Green. Sulphate of Copper 
is Blue Vitriol, which you may see in an Electric battery. It is 
also used in calico-printing and silver mining. Copper and 
Arsenic give the mineral greens, and are very poisonous. Black, 
red and yellow may also be produced easily. It is the Blue 
Vitriol that the chemists usually choose as a basis from which 
to secure other Copper Compounds. 

What is Silver f 

Silver is a beautiful white metal, harder than Gold, but softer 
than Copper. It forms the coined money of every-day life in all 
the nations west of Asia, and is rapidly coming into the same use- 
fulness there. It was known to man and used as money at an 
early date in the Bronze Age, although for a thousand years it 
was cut and weighed in balances by the shekel and maneh. In 
our coins it is alloyed with one-tenth of Copper. It has greatly 
cheapened in price during the past three decades. 

Why do we say Silver-plate ? 

Because the early method of uniting Silver on Copper was by 
coating an ingot of Copper with Borax and laying an ingot of 
Silver on top. The two ingots were then heated, and the Borax, 
as a flux, fused the two metals, and they were then rolled out 
into sheets of Silver on one side and Copper on the other. The 




CHEMISTRY. 275 

process of Electrolysis, or Electro-plating displaced the old 
plate-making, and "Silver plate" is not now-a-days necessarily 
such in fact. Three-fourths of the Silver is used in the house- 
hold, for spoons, ornaments, watches, etc. 

What are the Silver chemicals? 

The Silver Haloids (Iodine, Bromine,. Chlorine, etc.) are re- 
markable on account of their sensitiveness to light. Hence 
Silver is the chief Element in the Photographer's gallery. In- 
delible ink was first made with Silver. Lunar caustic, hair dyes, 
and fulminates are made from Silver. 

How are Looking-Glasses made? 

The process was once one in which Quicksilver (Mercury) was 
the leading material for coating the glass, but Silver has entirely 
replaced Mercury, and now-a-days there is no menace to health 
in the factories where mirrors are made. 

What is Gold? 

Gold is a yellow metal of great weight, but not hard enough 
in its pure state for the making of coin. It is composed of fine 
molecules which cling together with the greatest tenacity known, 
so that a gold wire may be drawn out to almost incredible 
length. Gold is impervious to the atmosphere, and can only 
be turned into vapor with great and continued heat, many 
scientists having lived and died in the belief that continued 
fusion did not lessen the volume of gold in the crucible. It may 
be dissipated, when in gold leaf, by a heavy charge of Electricity. 
It crystallizes in various forms and colors, and possesses a per- 
plexing Allotropic character, when its otherwise apparent purity 
and homogeneity are considered. How it takes its various colors 
without mixture with the coloring matter has not been theorized. 
Hence chemists are still in hopes of gold-making discoveries. 

What is the history of Gold? 

Gold was not probably known until after the discovery and 
isolation of Copper, Tin and Iron. It was not used as money, 
or perhaps even known in the early cities of Shinar, or in the 
hills at Nineveh. The Egyptians "cupelled" it, as is done to- 
day. It has been reckoned as the most precious of possessions 



276 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

for the better part of 5,000 years, and during the last thirty years 
has been adopted as the standard of value by over half the 
world's population, following the lead of Great Britain, early 
in the nineteenth century. The gold standard was fully adopted 
by Congress and President Harrison in July, 1890, when Silver 
was bought by the Government at the bullion price in Gold 
in London. The discovery of new supplies of Gold has not met 
the new demands, although one of the greatest speculations of 
modern times has recently gone forward in South African mines, 
where the Cyanide process has reduced the cost of extraction, 
and considerable quantities have been found on the Klondike 
River in Alaska. 

How do the mining experts guess so nearly to the value of 
gold and silver-bearing rock ? 

Here is one of their formulas : Let W represent the specific 
gravity of the specimen in air; A, the same in water; D, the 
difference in ounces or fractions; B, the known specific gravity 
of the metal (varying according to circumstances from 15.6 to 
19.34); C, the known specific gravity of the gangue (ore, quartz, 
rock), namely, if Si0 3 , it equals 2.65. Now, with these capital 
letters thus defined, WB minus BCD divided by B minus C, 
equals the ounces in gold in a ton of the gangue. 

What are the Gold chemicals ? 

They are practically all in the Halogens (Iodine, Chlorine, 
Bromine, etc.), or in their compounds. Gold makes an ex- 
plosive. The statement of Dr. Keeley, of the little town of 
Dwight, 111., made about 1888, that by a double Chloride of 
Gold, injected in the blood of a patient, he could overcome the 
periodic desire of the subject for alcoholic drink, probably 
marked one of the most interesting ethnological episodes in 
history. A molecule of Potassium and Chlorine, one atom each, 
may be united to a molecule of Gold and Chlorine, the latter 
molecule containing three atoms of Chlorine. If the Potassium 
be taken away, we have left the medicine, or the analogue of the 
secret medicine, which Dr. Keeley administered. Not only did 
the town of Dwight serve as a sanitarium for hundreds of 
thousands of patients — coming from the most gifted classes of 



CHEMISTRY, 277 

the people, but branches of the Gold Cure were established in 
every State, laws were passed encouraging the Cure, and 
imitatory hospitals were set up all over the world. 

What metals compose the Lead Group ? 

Lead and Thallium. Lead is one of the most important of 
the Elements, although like Mercury and Copper, it is a poison. 
Its greatest use is for water pipes, because water, the great 
dissolvent, makes no inroads on the walls of Lead. Its next 
great use is for paint, as White Lead — the Carbonate. It is 
used in glass-making. White Lead is the be-all and end-all of 
the paint we buy and use. Again, war has made "the leaden 
messenger of death " a theme of poets and historians. But 
though Lead have brought death with its bullets, it has also 
with its printing-types brought light, and the invention of type- 
casting machines to take the places of type-setters has only 
enlarged the uses to which Lead may be put. 

How is Lead-Pipe made ? 

It may be rolled by rollers around a core or mandrel ; or it 
may be squeezed out of an annular hole in a hydrostatic press, 
as macaroni tubes are made. The latter method is most rapid, 
and makes a continuous coil. All houses in cities are served 
with Lead pipe out to the iron water-pipe in the street. 

What are the principal Lead compounds ? 

In type, Lead, Copper and Antimony. In shot and bullets, 
Lead and Arsenic. In paint, Lead and Carbon, or Oxygen as 
in Minium (Red Lead). White Lead is made by Carbonizing 
sheets of Lead in Vinegar pots under heaps of tan-bark. Lead, 
as a solder is extremely ancient, and is yet used in stone and 
Iron work, as the most reliable Element through which protec- 
tion may be gained against the tooth of time. In cemeteries, we 
may see that the most enduring tombs have been constructed of 
polished granite with obtruding seams of Lead. Thus frost can 
obtain no leverage among the molecules. The tinner's solder is 
a compound of Tin and Lead. Stereotype plates are made with 
Lead, Antimony and Bismuth. 



278 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is Litharge? 

Litharge, as well as the commercial " Massicot," is the scum 
of melting good Lead. Out of Litharge the Lead medicines are 
usually made. Sugar of Lead is a valuable application, with 
Opium, on skin eruptions of a fiery and spreading order, like 
erysipelas. Lead is mined all over the world. 

What is Thai limn ? 

It was isolated by Professor Crookes, of the Crookes tubes, in 
1862. It looks like Zinc, but is even softer than Lead. It is 
also heavier than Lead. It exists in small quantity in a rare and 
wonderful ore called Crooksite, found in Sweden. This ore is 
formed of Selenium, Copper, Silver and Thallium. In the 
Spectrum, Thallium shows but a single line. 

What is Aluminium ? 

A very light, very hard, steel-like, Silvery metal, found to be 
the chief constituent with Oxygen, of our common clay. 
Alumina would be pure clay, without Silica, and pure clay 
would be the mineral Sapphire. Aluminium has created as 
much interest as the X Ray. It was once dearer than Gold, and 
only after the invention of the commercial Dynamo and by 
Electrical means, could the metal be forced from its seat in the 
blue clay which we behold on every hand. Works are established 
at Niagara Falls, and Aluminium increases in use, although the 
household sees it only in medals, ornaments and knick-knacks. 
The steel-makers use it in steel. Cash-registers, mine-chains, 
war vessels and flying machines deal with it. 

How is Aluminium extracted from clay? 

A crucible is made of Carbon blocks, with a bottom tap-hole. 
This crucible is filled with pieces of clay. An enormous Carbon 
candle or Electrode is lowered into the mass and a current of 
14,000 amperes, 30 volts, 1,500,000 watts (see Electricity) is sent 
from the candle through the crucible. That is, a monster arc 
light is set up. Chunks of Copper are put in the clay as aiding 
negative Electrodes. Under this heat the Aluminium separates, 
and may be tapped out four hundred pounds a day. Poison- 
ous gases pour from the chimneys, as from the Soda factories. 



CHEMISTRY. 279 

What is Indium ? 

It is a white, heavy metal, always associated with Zinc, closely 
allied with Aluminium in nature, discovered as late as 1863. 
Reich and Richter were searching for Thallium with the spec- 
troscope when they saw a new Indigo blue line. So they named 
the Element Indium when they found it, as Indigo gets its name 
through the Latin languages from India, whence it came. 

What is the Iron Group ? 

Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt and Nickel. As you will 
observe by their names, none of them is new save Chromium. 
They are closely related. 

What is Iron ? 

Our most useful metal. Man and his history are best studied in 
Ages — the rough Stone Age, the hewn Stone Age, the Bronze 
Age and the Iron Age. The latter, like the Stone Age, may be 
divided into two chapters, the invention of the steam engine by 
Watt marking the last and greatest change in the condition of 
man. 

Why is Iron so useful ? 

Because it can be fused and welded into innumerable shapes. 
With tempering or with mere return to ordinary temperature, 
it becomes an adamant, the strongest of our Elementary sub- 
stances, and also the tool by which nearly all of them may be 
wrought into shape. Our machines are nearly all of Iron, and 
eighty per cent, of the work of the world is done by Iron arms. 
Our horses are made of Iron. Our ships are Iron. Our bridges 
are Iron. At last, our buildings are Iron, and the era when 
man's constructive toil shall be at end bids soon to dawn. 

What is Steel? 

Iron and Carbon with other Elements like Aluminium in 
some small proportion. In the Bessemer process an astonishing 
Converter is used — an open mortar or vast cannon out of which 
a shaft of fiery air is blown from the fused metal inside. In this 
way a portion of the Carbon is burned out. 



2S0 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



What is the chemical use of Iron ? 

It is a noble medicine, imparting the red essential to our 
blood. Some forty or more Iron compounds are used by the 
physicians. In most of the conditions where the patient is too 
white, relief should be found in this great tonic, although only 
through the advice of a physician, as Iron might serve to in- 
crease heat and inflammation, thus shortening life. Fear of 
harming the teeth and alarm from the discoloration of ingested 
matter are exaggerated by the people. 

What is Chromium ? 

It is an Allotropic metal, having three Elementary conditions 
— a gray powder, shining crystals, and a very hard steel gray 
metal. It was named from the Greek chroma, color. The 
English word chrome asserts the presence of Chromium in all 
the ores called chromes, found in so many parts of the United 
States. 

What are the Chromium paints ? 

Lead Chromate is a great red. The sixth Oxide of Chromium 
is a valuable green, used on our bank-notes, and in glass-stain- 
ing. Emerald greens are Hydrates of Chromium. Guignet's 
Green is a Borate of Chromium. Plessy's Green is a Phosphate 
of Chromium. It is one of the colors used in pink chinaware. 

To what other uses is Chromium putt 

The calico-printers use it, and it bleaches tallow and palm oil. 
Chromeisen, that is, Chrome-iron, will cut glass. The Bichro- 
mate is used by photographers, chemists and Electricians. 
Chromium glue repairs broken glass or porcelain vessels of 
value, as water will not dissolve it. 

What is Manganese ? 

A soft, brittle, grayish white metal, very useful in affording a 
method of liberating Chlorine from its common compounds. 
In its union with Potassium, Manganese offers the most 
chameleon-like phenomena, and was called "the chameleon 
mineral " by the ancients. Here we may have an intensely green 
mass. An acid will turn it intensely purple. An alkali will re- 
convert it to green. Putin Chlorine, and purple fluid maybe 



CHEMISTRY. 281 

secured, which will make black crystals, with green or blueish 
hue. Grind them, and the powder is red. A grain of this 
powder will color all the water of a great vessel. Add an acid 
to the purple mixture and it becomes pink. 

What does Per mean ? 

/Vrmanganate or /^roxide means the greatest number of 
atoms of Manganese or Oxygen used in any Manganese or Oxy- 
gen compound. 

What uses is Manganese put to ? 

Is is a noted disinfectant, because it oxidizes so many sub- 
stances, and it is a tool in the laboratory for the oxidization of 
any Element, and the measure of its complete oxidization. It 
is a tonic medicine. 

Where is it found? 

It usually is in company with Iron, Calcium and Magnesium, 
and is as widely diffused over the earth as its companions. The 
deep sea expedition of the ship "Challenger" brought back Man- 
ganese nodules scraped from the bottom of the ocean. These 
cover large areas of the ocean's bed. 

What is Cobalt ? 

It is a heavy, steel gray metal with a reddish tint, taking a 
high lustre in polishing. The German name Kobold y applied to 
the original mineral, by the miners, signified evil spirit ox bad 
luck, as the Cobalt was often found where Silver ore was desired. 

For what is Cobalt famous ? 

In 1540, Scheurer found that the Oxide of Cobalt would color 
glass, and until then it was supposed to be useless. Where 
you see a sign-board with a shining-blue background, which 
sparkles like so many snow crystals, you see the painter's smalts. 
To make this, Silica and Carbonate of Potassium with Cobalt 
Oxide are fused into glass, the glass is ground into powder 
between granite mill-stones, and mixed with paint-vehicles. You 
note the beauty of such sign-board backgrounds, long after 
their surroundings have faded, and it is possible that the vitreous 
Cobalt blue is the only color of its hue that does not rapidly 



- 



282 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

change or fade under the influence of light and air. Cobalt is 
the blue of nearly all porcelain. It was once the main color 
used for blue wall papers. 

What is Nickel? 

This, like Aluminium, is another of the great metals of our 
modern life. It is a shining white Element, very heavy, very 
hard, and rather more impervious to the action of air than 
Silver. It was isolated by Cronsted in 1751, who named it from 
goblin-copper — Kupfer-nickel — that is, Old Nick's Copper, or 
the devil's copper, false in performance of promise. In America, 
it made the acquaintance of the people in the Eagle Cent of 
1857. And yet it was not until 1879 that Fleitman, by adding 
Magnesium to his molten Nickel, was able to roll it out with 
Iron in a fused sheet, as Silver and Copper were once rolled. 
Nickel vessels are thus made in England. But already, in the 
United States, a decade earlier, our Electrolyzers (see Electro- 
lysis) had put the Galvanic Battery at work on the lines of 
Bottcher in 1848, and given to the stoves of our households and 
stores, the gleaming ornaments that* now generally adorn them. 
Nickel-plate was so popular, that a great railroad undertaking 
was so named as an advertisement, and the plumbers and house 
hardware-furnishers at once made the most of the easy Electric 
union of Nickel with iron and copper. Among the household 
conveniences that have clearly demonstrated to us the value of 
Nickel-plate is the "student lamp." At the great iron-works, 
armor-plates for war-vessels are often plated with Nickel. 
Probably our greatest use of Nickel is on the bicycle. 

What is the Platinum Group ? 

It is composed of Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, 
Iridium and Platinum. They are all white metals, and are 
found together, in their native molecules. Osmium is the 
heaviest of the Elements, and the most difficult to fuse. The 
international standard of length, for the measurement of the 
earth, adopted in 1883, is wrought of an alloy of Platinum, 
Iridium, Rhodium, Ruthenium and Iron. This is supposed to 
give a metal bar that will change the least possible amount 



CHEMISTRY. 283 

tinder the ordinarily varying temperatures. All these metals 
make good points for gold pens. 

How are these Metals obtained? 

From a rare ore called Polyxene. There is usually a trace of 
Platinum in native Gold. It was the early workers in Platinum, 
like Wollaston, who in time determined the presence in Plati- 
num ore of the other heavy metals. Platinum was one of the 
discoveries of the Spanish sailors who came to America. 

What are the uses of Platinum ? 

Russia coined money of Platinum, but was forced to recall 
the coinage, because of its fluctuating value. Liebig said that 
without Platinum crucibles, the composition of most minerals 




Fig. 108. PLATINUM APPARATUS FOR ASSAYING PRECIOUS METALS. 

could not have been ascertained. Sulphuric Acid, the agent of 
civilization, is made most economically in a Platinum still, which 
costs a fortune. Every time you read by an incandescent (bulb) 
light, you are indebted to Platinum, for it is only by means of 
Platinum wire that the glass bulb can be kept from breaking. 
The union of Platinum and Cyanogen (NH) is interesting to 
Electricians and other scientists on account of its fluorescence. 
(See X Rays.) Platinum is still very costly. 

What is the Tin Group ? 

The Elements called Titanium, Zirconium and Tin form this 
family. Of the uses of Zirconium we shall speak in treating 
the Crium group, anon. 



284 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is the history of Tin ? 

Here we again approach one of the metals that is more 
ancient than the written or even the traditionary history of 
mankind. The metal that today serves the housewife so 
perfectly, protecting her iron utensils from the action of air 
and acids, was also the earliest means of enabling man to throw 
away his stone axe and knife. When Copper was found at 
Cypress, Tin was brought from Cornwall to mix with it into 
bronze. We must admire the courage of the Phoenician mer- 
chants who, before the days of Ulysses, sailed out of the Pillars 
of Hercules, where now Gibraltar stands, and crossed the 
stormy Bay of Biscay into the cold northern land 10 obtain the 
shining metal, then called White Lead. Doubtless it was the 
bronze axe that made Egypt mistress of the world. 

Describe the Element Tin. 

It is a white metal, bright and silvery, although there is a 
slight oxidation in the air which, however, may be easily 
removed. It is slightly elastic and sonorous. It is very light 
and fuses at a comparatively low temperature. Few metals are so 
well known and so much used as Tin, and yet few are so seldom 
seen in any but the filmy form of tin-plate, so-called, on our 
pans and kitchen vessels, or as tin-foil wrapping our chocolates, 
tobaccos, etc. 

How is Tin obtained? 

It is in an ore called Tin-stone or Cassiterite, the native 
Oxide of Tin. It is believed that in ancient times the inhabit- 
ants of the British Isles washed the stones from the bottoms of 
their creeks, and traded them for the glass and dyed cloths of 
the Phoenicians. Pick-axes made of the horns of animals are 
found in these tin-works. Diodorus of Sicily states that the 
barbarians carried their Tin-stones in little carts -at low water 
to barter with the merchants. 

Were Tin mines dug later ? 

Yes, and to great distances under the sea. The Duke of 
Cornwall for centuries derived a revenue from the product of 
all the Tin mines. The Prince of Wales is Duke of Cornwall, 



CHEMISTRY. 



285 



and now draws a pension of about $80,000 a year in lieu of the 
tax that would be paid to him from the stamping of Tin ingots. 
There are Tin mines in various parts of the world — Malaysia, 
Australia and South America. The Tin-stone is crushed, 
melted, fluxed and poured into blocks, ingots, pigs, etc. 

How is the Tin put on our wash-basins and milk-pans ? 

By simple immersion, after the proper preparation, of the 
sheet-iron article that is to be coated with Tin. Our pins are 
boiled in Tin for four hours. The affinity of the Tin with the 
Iron molecules is so great that henceforward the utensil is 
practically Tin, and in this way the cost of the rarer of the two 
metals is economized. No other metallic composition for daily 
use, in which food may be prepared or fluids boiled, has found 
favor in America, though many kinds have been introduced. 

What is the chemical value of 7 in ? 

Very great. Solutions and Salts of Tin are widely used at 
the calico works as mordants, to set and beautify colors and 
promote the various processes. By the use of Tin compounds 
it has become possible to multiply the weight of silk ; to give 
black silk the metallic weight and lustre demanded by women ; 
to give a heavy face to calico ; to use the aniline colors mixed 
with mordants, without the dye-vat, and practically to revolu- 
tionize the entire art of printing cloth. (See Calico.) Oxide 
of Tin gives a milky color to glazes in pottery, and has been 
used by the potters for thousands of vears. 

How is Tin-foil made ? 

By rolling the ingots into thin sheets. These sheets are cut 
into squares and built into blocks, to be pounded with wooden 
mallets like gold leaf. The leaf that is put on the back of 
mirrors is made of Tin, Copper and Mercury. Speculum metal, 
for telescopes and spectroscopes, is made of Copper and Tin. 

What vastly important use do we make of Tin f 

We use it for our cans, and the term ,- canned goods offers 
one of the defining marks of our civilization. These cans are 
made in millions at nearly all of our large cities. 



2fc6 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Describe a Tin Can-Manufactory. 

Plates of bluish sheet-iron, 14x20 inches, arrive from the 
rolling-mills and go to the store-room ; thence on trucks to the 
cleansing room. Here a vat of dilute Sulphuric Acid steams 
and fills the room with mist. The plates are washed in the sour 
water until they turn gray — their true color. Then they are 
washed in hot water. Now they go wet and steaming to hot 
rollers, which drive off the moisture. Other rollers and brushes 
daub the plates with stearin, an oil flux, which is to make the 
molten Tin adhere. Now the greased plate goes on a band 
through a vat holding 5,000 pounds of molten Tin. On its way 
from the Tin bath the Tin plate, now shining like a silver mirror, 
passes on bands through a bath of palm oil. This is to prevent 
cracking and blistering. The oily plate now falls into a bin of 
bran, which revolves, and the bran absorbs the unneeded oil. 
The Tin for this factory comes in seventy-five pound ingots 
from Australia. 

How are the Tin cans made ? 

In die presses that move when girls touch a foot-clutch. The 
working tables of the machines are tilted. The cover of a 
baking-powder can is cut, shaped and letters embossed in its 
metal, all by one movement of the foot. A girl can make 10,000 
covers in a day. The piece of Tin for the sides of the can is cut 
between steel blade-wheels, and the bent strip is crimped to- 
gether ; the bottom-piece is stamped and clamped on the bent 
side-piece, and the whole operation is done in a few seconds, 
without much manipulation. The covers are put on the cans by 
hand. These are dry boxes for powders. 

How is the soldering done ? 

As the cans for liquids come from the presses, they are placed 
sidewise on a sloping rack, many feet long. At the lower edge 
of this rack is a gutter of molten solder, so that as the can is 
rolled along its lower edge is immersed in the metal. At the 
end they are reversed, carried back to the starting-point, and 
rolled along the other end up. In the testing-machine they are 
immersed in water, and must send out no bubbles or they leak — 
as we saw in the Tomato-Cannery. (See Fruits.) In another 



CHEMISTRY. 281 

department cans are painted, and advertisements or labels are 
stenciled on them. One thousand people may be employed, and 
a million cans a day made. 

What becomes of the Tin scraps ? 

They are baled, taken to the foundry and melted into weights 
for window-sash. 

What may be said of Tin Cans ? 

They are the most numerous, best and cheapest utensils man 
has ever made, but their use is accompanied with the most 
astonishing waste, in all instances where they must be cut open 
in order to empty them. At present they cover the open lots of 
cities with unsightly refuse, and even to gather them and melt 
them into sash-weights does not seem to be feasible. 

What is the Arsenic Group of Elements ? 
It is composed of Vanadium, Arsenic, Niobium, Antimony, 
Tantalum and Bismuth. Of these only Arsenic, Antimony and 
Bismuth especially interest the public. Nitro- 
gen and Phosphorus, but for their overwhelm- 
ing importance, would also be described in 
this group. Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum 
are gray or black powders. 

What is Arsenic ? 
Fig. 109. marsh's The best known of our poisons, and a 

detkrmTning source of green paint and colors. The Ele- 
arsenic. ment, Arsenic, was not isolated until the 

eighteenth century, but Orpiment, the yellow Sulphide of 
Arsenic, was known to the Greeks. What commerce calls White 
Arsenic is Arsenious Acid. The Element itself is a highly 
brittle steel-gray metal. It is mixed with lead in the making of 
shot, and is used in aniline dyes. The pyrotechnists use it in 
making Indian white fire. In dyeing, calico-printing, wall- 
paper staining and medicine it still has a place. As a medicine, 
in a highly diluted form, Arsenic improves the action of the 
skin, but imparts an unhealthy white look to the complexion 
Arsenic is useful in glass-making, and furnishes many alloys 
for the improvement of Lead and Steel. With Copper it makes 




288 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

the most brilliant of greens, doubly poisonous, and the public 
usually regards a bright green color, not made by foliage, as a 
sign of the presence of deadly substances. In the middle ages 
poisoning flourished, and the Medicis and Borgias have a 
sombre chapter in history with their poisoned gloves and 
flowers. 

What is Antimony ? 

A very important metal that enters into many alloys, but 
principally our printing-types, our Britannia-ware, our Babbitt 
anti-friction metal for the axles of our great wheels, for stereo- 
type plates, and for gun-metal. This Element (called Stibium 
by the ancients), is popularly said to have its modern name, 
Antimony, that is, anti-moine, anti-monk, from the story that it 
was administered to the occupants of a monastery as a valuable 
medicine and killed them all. It is a poison that acts slowly 
on the human system, if carefully administered, rendering the 
detection of the crime in former days difficult. But with modern 
Chemistry, that danger has passed. Antimony comes to the 
metal works in grayish pigs, and our Western States produce it 
in good quantities. It is a color for glass-making. Antimony 
is used in the manufacture of black lead pencils. 

Did the Asiatic women use it? 

Yes. The "tutty," for their eyes, was made of Antimony, 
and gave a lustre to those organs. Jezebel painted her eyes 
with this metal, probably, and the Bible often speaks of the 
practice, which is continued to the present day. 

Has it any use in medicine ? 

Tartar Emetie is made of Potassium, Antimony, etc. There 
are many other drugs, caustics and plasters of Antimony. It is 
in fact a valuable remedial agent. 

What is Bismuth ? 

It is a hard, brittle crystalline metal, closely associated with 
silver and gold ores, and once credited with giving a blue color, 
because it had not been separated from Cobalt. It was first 
used as an alloy in solder, and is a component of that useful 



CHEMISTRY. 



289 



substance. Its alloys, in other instances, are uncommonly 
fusible, and it is possible to mix several fairly hard metals with 
it so that the amalgan will melt if put in boiling water. Wooden 
figures may be silvered with Bismuth, and other lustres are 
made of it. A little Bismuth enters into many popular alloys, 
like Britannia ware. It is a stomach medicine. The potters 
use Bismuth to make the gilt braid adhere to porcelain, and as 
a flux it is valuable. " Pearl white/' " pearl powder/' and other 
cosmetics of this order, are usually the subnitrate of Bismuth. 

What is the Tungsten Group ? 

Molybdenum, Tungsten and Uranium. These rare metals 
are valuable to the steel-makers, glass-makers and porcelain- 
workers, and if Radiance and Fluorescence advance as a part of 
our conveniences, they will become well known. One of the 
Sodium compounds of Uranium, out of which Uranium glass is 
made, is now manufactured on a large scale — $40,000 worth a 
year at one establishment. Edison found that Tungsten was 
the best substance to be used on the screens of his Fluoroscopes, 
for the observation of the effects of the X Ray, and for the 
Radiant Lamp. 

What is your last Group of Elements ? 

The Cerium Group. These are found in minerals like Cerite, 
and are especially notable because of recent improvements in 
our methods of burning common illuminating gas. The names 
of these Elements are Lanthanum, Cerium, Didymium, Yttrium, 
Erbium and Thorium. Still newer Elements called Neodymium 
and Praseodymium are added. 

What was WelsbacKs discovery ? 

Dr. Auer von Welsbach prepared a hood for the common 

gas-flame. Through the incandescence of this hood he produced 

four times as much light as the gas jet formerly radiated. The 

hood was made of the salts of rare Elements. A cotton hood 

was soaked in solutions of the salts and the cotton burned away, 

leaving a white substance that could be heated to incandescence 

and maintained at that temperature without disintegration. 

But the substances, which were the Elements named in the 
10 



290 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

group we are now reviewing, together with Zirconium, were so 
rare, that the Welsbach invention had no commercial value 
until deposits were found in Henderson County, North Car- 
olina, and elsewhere, and the manufacture of the hoods became 
a valuable monopoly. The discovery made an era of good 
times in North Carolina, where the farmers began washing out 
" Menacite w ore and selling it at prices that might be paid for 
gold washings. The Welsbach light is a step forward toward 
the solution of the problems and mystery of Radiation. 

For what is the Cerium Group notable ? 

It is the field of discovery in which the Spectroscope is con- 
stantly marking new Elements. We will name some of the many 
that have not been fully entered in our Table of Elements, be- 
cause only their existence is suggested : Terbium, discovered 
by Thalen ; Samarium, by Marignac ; Holmium, by Soret: 
Thulium, by Soret; Scandium, by Thalen; Gadolinium, by 
Marignac. The latter is supposed to be several new Elements. 

I have heard that some of the metals are more precious or 
costly than Gold, Is that so ? 

Yes, for many years Gallium, a metal that will melt if exposed 
only to the heat of the human hand, cost about $200 an ounce, 
or ten times as much as Gold. Thorium, which closely resem- 
bles Palladium (a far cheaper metal), was sold at $160 per 
ounce; Vanadium was sold at $48; the greenish-gray Rubidium 
cost %ZZ\ Tantalum and Calcium, $80; Indium and Didymium, 
$72; Lithium, $64; Erbium, $62; Ruthenium, $44; Cerium, 
Strontium and Rhodium, $40 each; Barium, $32; Boron, $25. 
The following of these metals, if kept in lump form, are usually 
preserved in kerosene : Indium, Lithium, Strontium and 
Barium; while Gallium, Thorium, Vanadium, Rubidium, Cal- 
cium, Didymium, Erbium and Ruthenium are usually produced 
as powders. 

Have I now heard the names of a sufficient number of the 
Elements ? 

Yes. Any other substance which you will be likely to hear 
of is made of two or more of these Elements. You have here 



CHEMISTRY. 291 

the basis of all that is generally known. By becoming familiar 
with the table which is to follow, and committing to memory the 
symbols of the chief Elements — particularly those, like Kalium, 
for Potassium, that are unfortunately represented by foreign 
names — you will be able to instantly read and understand 
formulas, and decipher the most essential features of physi- 
cians' prescriptions. 

What is the use of this knowledge ? 

The age in which we live presses the necessity of such knowl- 
edge upon us. We see the enormous glucose factory, and not 
till then do we consider the gulf that lies between that vast 
establishment and the fine-strung theory of the chemist — yet 
without that theory there could be no commercial investment of. 
millions in the grinding of corn and the boiling of mash. We 
see the trolley, the beautiful silks and wall-papers, the cooling- 
rooms, the ice-manufactories, the telephone, celluloid, Welsbach 
light, incandescent electric light, photo-engravure, beet-sugar 
— these and the like of these — and it is no longer respectable 
or fashionable to know absolutely nothing of the main chemical 
triumphs that have resulted in so much good to us. When great 
popular interest shall turn to Chemistry, the advancement of 
civilization will be still more rapid. 

What is the meaning of the different kinds of letters used in 
the table ? 

The small capitals are used to name the Elements that lead 
in household importance. The least important are printed in 
italic. 

What is told in the Table ? 

(i) The name of the Element; (2) its Symbol, which, when 
standing alone in a formula, means that one atom is used oi 
that Element; (3) the atomic weight in atoms of Hydrogen; 
(4) the Specific Heat, in fractions of a water unit. 



292 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



Table of the Elements. 



Names of the Elements. 


Sign. 


Atomic Weight 


in Atoms 


Specific Heat in 
fraction*; of 






of Hydrogen. 


a Water Unit. 


Aluminium - 


Al 




27.3 


*. 214 


Antimony - 


Sb 


(Stibium) 


122 


.0508 


Arsenic - 


As 




74-9 


.0814 


Argon 










Barium - 


"bsl ' 




136.8* 




Bismuth 


Bi 




207.5 


.0308 


Boron - 


B 




11 


•5 


Bromine 


Br 




79-75 


.0843 


Cadmium 


Cd 




in. 6 


*.o567 


Caesium 


Cs 




i3 2 -7 




Calcium 


Ca 




39-9 


*. 170 


Carbon 


C 




11.97 


.4589 


Cerium - 


Ce 




141 


*.<H47 


Chlorine - 


CI 




35.36 




Chromium 


Cr 




52.4 


*.IOI 


Cobalt 


Co 




58.6 


*. 107 


Copper - 


Cu 


(Cuprum) 


63.3 


*.o952 


Decipium % ■ 


Dp 




171 




Didymium 


Di 




147 


*.o456 


Erbium 


Er 




I70-5 




Fluorine - 


F 




19.1 




Gadolinium 










Gallium - 






•••••• 




Ger7?ianium 


"Ge" 




72.3 




Glucinum f 


G 




9-3 


*.64 


Gold - 


Au 


(Aurum) 


196.2 


*.o324 


Helium - 










Holmium - 










Hydrogen 


"h" 




1 




Iridium 


In 




113. 4 


*.o57o 


Iodine - 


I 




126.53 


.0541 


Iridium 


Ir 




196.7 


*.0326 


Iron - 


Fe 


(Ferrum) 


55-9 


*.ii4 


Lanthanum 


La 




139 


*o448 


Lead - 


Pb 


(Plumbum) 


206.4 


•0316 


Lithium 


Li 




7.01 


* 9408 


Magnesium 


Mg 




23.94 


*.25o 


Manganese - 


Mn 




54-8 


*.I22 


Mercury - 


Hg 


(Hydrargurum) 199.8 


.0317 


Molybdenum 


Mo 




95-8 


.0722 


Mosandrium \ 






••«... 




Neody?nium 










Nickel - 


Ni 




"58.6 


*.io9 


Niobium 


Nb 




94 




Nitrogen 


N 




14.01 




Osmium 


Os 




198.6 


.0311 


Oxygen - 


O 




15.96 




Palladium - 


Pd 




106.2 


*.Q593 


Phosphorus - 


P 




30.96 


*I74 



CHEMISTRY. 



293 



Tabi,e of the Elements.— Continued. 



Names of the Elements. 


Sign. 


Atomic Weight in Atoms 
of Hydrogen. 


Specific Heat in 

fractions of 
a Water Unit. 


Platinum 


Pt 




196.7 


*.Q324 


Potassium 


K 


(Kalium) 


394 


*.l66 


Praseodymium - 










Rhodium 


"ro" 




104. 1 


*.o 5 88 


Rubidium - 


Rb 




85.2 




Ruthenium - 


Ru 




103.5 


*.o6n 


Samarium - 


Sm 




150 




Scandium 


Sc 




44 




Selenium - 


Se 




79 


.0745 


Siucon - 


Si 




28 


.2029 


Silver 


Ag 


(Argentum) 


107.66 


*.o57o 


Sodium - 


Na 


(Natrium) 


23 


♦.293 


Strontium - 


Sr 




87.2 




Sulphur 


S 




31.98 


.171 


Tantalum - 


Ta 




182 




Tellurium 


Te 




128 


.0474 


Terbium 










Thallium 


' Tl" 




203.64 


*-<>335 


Thorium 


Th 




178.5 




Thulium 










Tin 


"Sn" 


(Stannum) 


117*8 


.0562 


Titanium 


Ti 




48 




Tungsten - 


W 


(Wolfram) 


184 


.0334 


Uranium 


U 




180 




Vanadium - 


V 




51.2 




Ytterbium 






17-3 




Yttrium 


"y* 




89.5 




Zinc 


Zn 




64.9 


.0955 


Zirconium - 


Zr 




90 





* Where an asterisk pree<'de?> the Specific Heat of an Element, the Atomic Weight wai 
computed from the Specific Heat, it being impossible to weigh the gas. 
t Also called Beryllium. 

i Deoipium is thought by some to be the same as Holmium. 
\ Mosandrium is thought by some to be a mixture of Gadolinium and Terbium, 
jee note concerning new Element on page 223. 




Plf. 111. SUGAR, FROM CANE TO HOGSHEAD. 




Sugar, Etc, 










W%dtf m- Sugar f (See Chemistry.) 

It is a differing but peculiar combination of carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen. These are three of the four physical necessities of the 
life-movement. Our most suitable food will therefore abound in 
Sugar — as in bread and milk. The fourth substance (not present 
in Sugar) is nitrogen, which we obtain largely in air, meat and 
cheese. 

Whence do our table Sugar and our table sweets come ? 

From sugar cane, beets, sorghum, palms, corn, grapes, maple- 
trees, honey and other substances — principally from sugar-cane 
and beets. By far the greater part of our Sugar is imported 
largely from the West Indies. The Government has at times 
offered a bounty to the Sugar producers of Louisiana, and 
whether or not this bounty should be paid, or the import taxes 
on Sugar be abolished, has been a question of national politics 
at several elections. 

What is Sugar Cane ? 

It is a plant much like corn, but rising to a height sometimes 
of twenty feet. It grew originally in the far East, and must 
have a hot, moist climate, thereby differing from corn. It was 
brought to Europe by the Moors, who called it the honey-bearing 
Indian reed, and started plantations in Spain and Sicily. The 
Spanish sailors took the plant to the Azores, Madeiras, Canaries 
and Cape Verd Islands, and onward to the West Indies and 
Brazil. Spain and Portugal long enjoyed the Sugar trade of the 
world. 

295 



296 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Where did the Ancients get Sugar ? 

They probably used honey. At least there are many classical 
recipes extant showing that honey was used in cooking. There 




Fig. 112. SUGAR CANE AFLOAT. 

are about fifty references to honey in the Bible, but Isaiah also 
refers to Sugar-cane (chapter 43). Honey served for Sugar in 
the middle ages, as our libraries show. It was understood that 
the first Sugar refinery of the western world was established at 
Venice. When loaf-Sugar was brought to England, it was used 
in making presents to Kings and great personages. The sale of 
loaf-Sugar has now been abandoned in commerce. 

How is Sugar classified? 

In two chemical families — the Saccharoses and the Glucoses. 
Early in the nineteenth century Gay-Lussac determined that the 
molecules of a Saccharose were each made of twelve atoms of 
carbon, twenty-two atoms of hydrogen and eleven atoms of 
oxygen. Later, Dumas and other chemists assumed that Glu- 
cose was composed of molecules made of six atoms of carbon, 
with twelve atoms of hydrogen and six atoms of oxygen. It is 
understood that with the addition of sulphur and nitrogen the 
German chemists have produced compounds a thousand times 
sweeter than Saccharose. 

Has chemical knowledge prospered? 

Yes. Under the influence of commercial necessity, the nature 







PASTEUR IN HIS LABORATORY 



SUGAR, ETC. 297 

of Sugar, the philosophy of crystallization — that is, how mole- 
cules form together in one of their solid states — and other secrets 
of nature, have been vigilantly studied. 

What are the sources of our commercial Sugar ? 

First, from Sugar-Cane ; next, from Sugar-Beets; next, from 
starch ; next, from maple-trees. Then come sorghum cane, 
palm trees, grapes and other inconsequential products. 

Can Sugar be made artificially by the Chemists ? 

Generally speaking, no. From a theoretical point of view, 
there is much to be learned. Foreign atoms cling tenaciously 
to the molecules of Sugar naturally produced, and only the 
costly processes of filtration or solution by water will separate 
the good from the bad. If the scientists could themselves com- 
pound a Sugar molecule, the price of Sugar could be cheapened 
indefinitely. 

Describe Sugar-making from cane? 

The long canes go to the crushing rollers on a feed belt. Some- 
times the head-stocks of the top-roller have a hydraulic accumu- 
lator or " spring," which regulates the pressure and guards 
against the dangers of an uneven feed. There are different 
arrangements of rollers, but generally a top, a cane and a 
megass or bagasse roller make the first set. The top-roller is 
midway above the other two. After the cane enters between 
the top and the cane rollers it is sent upward by a trash-turner 
into the bite between the top and the megass rollers. In 
Lousiana another pair of rollers lies beyond. When the trash 
or bagasse comes from the last set of rollers it may be burned 
under the boilers after a little drying. 

What becomes of the juice? 

This green, sticky liquid goes in troughs to a strainer, and 
thence to a vat. Fermentation begins at once. To remove or 
neutralize the acids, milk of lime (lime and water) may be added 
and heat applied, or the juice may be passed through the fumes 
of burning sulphur. Phosphoric acid is sometimes used. 



298 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



Describe tlie lime process. 

The juice goes into clarifiers, that is, iron kettles holding five 
hundred gallons. Milk of lime is added to the warm juice, and 
the heat is further raised to less than two hundred and twelve 
degrees, A thick scum rises, and thus what is called the defeca- 
tion of the juice is effected. In the new system, there are series 




Ffg. 113. APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CALCUIM IN SUGAR. 



of four clarifying cauldrons, heated by steam coils. The scum 
is composed of thickened albuminoids, lime and other sub- 
stances. 

What is the Sacchrameter? 

It is a gravity-tube, which may be set afloat in the boiling cane 
juice. By specific gravity the density of the Sugar-juice maybe 
gauged on the scale that projects out of the liquid. These 
sacchrameters are used at each cauldron. (See Milk.) The 
scum is made into rum, 



SUGAR, ETC. 



299 



What is the Vacuum-Pan ? 

It is the vessel into which the clarified juice flows. It is a 
vacuum, but not a pan, for the vessel is spherical, with copper 
steam coils in the bottom. A glass window permits the liquid 
to be seen, and electric lights make the interior still more plainly 
visible. An air-pump and condenser remove the air, and the 
juice boils with less heat than two hundred and twelve degrees 
and with more agitation than in the open air. When the mole- 
cules of Sugar begin to form into crystals, the charge is dumped 
into the mixer. 

What is the Mixer ? 

It is a long trough, in which a shaft revolves. On the shaft 
are steel arms that play in the Sugar, beating the crystals apart, 
and bringing them near other molecules still unattached. When 
the grain or crystal is of the right size it goes to the centrifrugal. 

What is the centifrugal machine ? 

The principle is the same as in the cream-separator and the 
flour mill. A kettle-shaped vessel in which the wet sugar is 
placed, revolves twelve hundred times a minute. Its sides are 




Fig 114. CENTRIFUGAL SUGAR MACHINES. 

lined with brass gauze. The thin parts of the Sugar are heaviest, 
and they fly upward to the gauze, and outward in the form of 
molasses. Remaining in the kettle is dry, white Sugar, which 



300 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



is the sweet Coffee A of our tables. It is a better Sugar in many 
respects, but does not compete with the popular granulated 
Sugar of the great refineries. 

Describe the Sugar Refineries. 

Hogsheads of Muscovado (word from the same root as Mis- 
chief), meaning unripe or unfit Sugar together with molasses, 
arrive in vast quantities. The material goes to the top floor, 
where it is dissolved in water and boiled in pans or "blow-ups" 




Fig. 115. DCBOSC-SOLIELS APPARATUS FOR COLOR ANALYSIS 

OF SUGAR 



with steam coils. From these pans or "blow-ups" the sirup 
passes through from fifty to two hundred cloth filters heated by 
steam. These hot bags retain many impurities, but do not 
remove the yellow color. Now the real refining begins. 



SUGAR, ETC. 301 

Describe the Filters. 

They are iron cylinders fifty feet high, resembling the genera- 
tors in the Vinegar Factory. They are filled with animal char- 
coal, or bone black. After traveling through fifty feet of bone 
black, the sirup comes out in molecules free of all substances, 
except carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the Saccharose propor- 
tions. The sirup may now be treated as it was at the cane mill, or 
it may be run into innumerable small molds standing in rows. 
Its crystals are larger, have a higher glaze, possess greater 
adhesive power among themselves, and the Sugar may be cut 
into small blocks of various shapes and dimensions, or crushed 
into separate crystals that thereafter make no attempt to cohere, 
and show but little affinity for water and none at all for alcohol. 

How is Granulated Sugar made? 

To make it, Coffee A Sugar is dried in a revolving cylinder. 
How is Pulverized Sugar made ? 

Dry Sugar is ground in stone buhrs or steel rollers, and sifted 
like flour. 

What has cheapened the price of Sugar? 

First, the use of steam pipes for heating. Second, the use of 
the vacuum-method, which saves fuel and hastens the action. 
Third, the bone-black filters. Lastly, the most important im- 
provement was the use of the centrifugal machine, which 
reduced the time for refining soft Sugars from two weeks to a 
day, and enormously reduced the cost. 

Is the refining interest a large one ? 

Yes, One company has a capital stock of $100,000,000, and 
pays dividends on this sum at the rate of as high as twelve per 
cent, per annum. One of the establishments of this company — 
the largest refinery in the world — covers five city blocks on the 
East River, in Brooklyn. 

How is competition carried 071 against this Company ? 
By means of importation from foreign countries, where a 
bounty is practically paid through the rebate of internal taxes. 

Is Sugar adulterated ? 

The chemist will naturally strive to add the free elements of 



302 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



air to carbon, and to give to Sugar bulk with the least expen- 
diture of sweetness. Sugar betraying alkali, ammonia or sulphur 




Fig. 116. APPARATUS FOR FINDING THE ALKALINITY OF SUGAR. 



by its taste or smell — particularly the latter — should be re- 
jected. In the vast field of carbon compounds, where molecules 
are often nearly alike, the eye, the nose and the tongue are as 
cunning as the most learned chemist. 

What is Diffusion, or Dialysis ? 

This is the method by which the Sugar molecules are taken 
from beets, and Sugar-cane may be treated in the same manner. 
We will suppose a thin curtain, like the wall of the vegetable 
cell. Now, if two liquids of a different degree of density are 
separated by this wall, they will diffuse through the wall and 
establish an equilibrium of solution. This is a form of Dialysis. 
If a cell full of Sugar juice holding twelve per cent, of Sugar be 
placed near an equal quantity of water, the two chambers would 
soon hold six per cent, of Sugar. Put the six per cent, solution 



SUGAR, ETC. 303 

near another twelve per cent, solution, and all would become 
nine per cent. Again, and the outside solution would rise to 
10.5 per cent, or within 1.5 of the full capacity. On this theory 
all the Beet Sugar is made. 

Apply the Diffusion theory. 

Tall, upright cylinders will be filled with clean sliced roots. 
The contents of each will weigh two or three tons. Eight of 
these cylinders stand in a series, while two or four others are 
out of service, getting ready to take places in the active series. 
Pure water flows into cylinder No. 1, which has been longest in 
operation, and has the least Sugar remaining in the cells of the 
beets. When No. 1 is practically exhausted of Saccharose, it is 
disconnected and No. 2 becomes No. 1, while the fresh cylinder 
becomes No. 8. The water goes from cylinder to cylinder, 
acquiring sweetness as it goes. Before it is urged into the last 
cylinder it is heated, and passes under pressure among the fresh 
beets, becoming thick and rich with sugar — in fact, the water 
that comes from No. 8 is fifty per cent. Sugar, and is free of the 
nitrogen, fibrine, sulphur, potash, sodium and calcium that are 
the especial results of any crushing or macerating process. 
When Sugar-cane is diffused, the stalks must be cut into slices, 
and, as fermentation is rapid, there are many difficulties. But 
no Sugar-juice yet secured is in molecules of Sugar and 
water. Other atoms are always present, showing obstinate 
affinity, and the beet Sugar molecules are more difficult than the 
cane molecules. The Germans have usually been forced to use 
the expensive " charcoal" filter even in the raw stage, thus 
making two filterings of this kind. The other parts of the pro- 
cess are such as we have already described, except that carbonic 
acid and barytes are also used for clarifying. 

Did the German method serve as an example? 

Yes, Great factories were established in California, Nebraska, 
Utah and Virginia, and the product of thousands of acres is 
turned into Sugar. Millions of capital are employed in these 
institutions. A ton of beets furnishes two hundred and eighty 
pounds of pure Sugar. 



304 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 



Describe a typical American Factory. 

Mills and sheds closely connected surround a tall chimney. 
A field is filled with large boxes or trenches, into which 
the farmers shovel their wagon-loads of beets. The large trench 
or box, is bottomed with loose boards, and under the boards is 
a cemented or paved flume for running water. When the beets 




Fig. 117. SZOMBATHY'S APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE 
SUGAR IN BEETS. 



are not wanted, they are covered with straw or soil, in silo 
fashion. The problem of correct preservation has not yet been 
solved, as there is danger both from sweating and freezing. The 
beets now lie in the upper trench as they came from the farm. 
Of course some soil adheres to them. 



SUGAR, ETC. 305 

What happens next ? 

Warm waste water is let into the under-ditch or flume, and 
this lifts the loose boards. The beets fall down and go toward 
the factory. At the factory they fall into buckets on the rim of 
a wheel and are carried into the washing-augur, which revolves 
in an iron trough. As the beets are forced along they become 
clean. At the end of the trough they fall into buckets and 
ascend to the top of the building, drying as they go. Arriving 
at the top, the beets fall into an automatic weigher, which tips 
at half a ton, registers and drops its half ton into the slicer. 

Describe the Slicer. 

It is on the floor just above the diffusion battery, which is 
itself copied after the system of iron cylinders described on the 
previous page. The slicer is a large revolving disk, on which 
are knives of curious shape. These revolve under the mass of 
beets and cut them into flakes three-sixteenths of an inch thick. 
In our factories the battery of diffusers stands in a circle, so 
that a revolving chute from the slicer can fill any one of the 
cylinders. The beet juice that comes from the last of the 
diffusers is chocolate-colored. 

What becomes of the slices ? 

They are dropped from cylinder No. i into augur presses and 
reduced to pulp. The pulp, partly dried, is sold for cattle-feed. 

What is Molasses? 

It is the residue of Sugar molecules that refuse to arrange 

themselves in crystals. It is not without crystals, and they may 

be secured by further treatment, which usually is carried on for 

two or three processes after the first yield of Sugar. But the 

Sugar molecule has various properties. A ray of light sent 

through a molecule that will crystallize turns the ray one way, 

and this is called dextrine or right Sugar. A ray through 

another molecule turns it to the left — called Icevo-rotatory 

Sugar (from Iceva, Latin for the left hand, as dexter a is the 

right liand). The left-handed Sugar is also called invert Sugar. 

Glucose is laevo-rotatory. Cane Sugar yields both dextrose and 
20 



306 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

Iczvulose. Sugar is tested by making it into a solution with 




Fig. 119. APPARATUS FOR THE EXACT ANALYSIS OF SIRUPS AND MOLASSES. 

water and viewing it with the polariscope. The light, as we 
have said, is polarized differently. 

What is Polarization ? 

We can best answer by asking you to hold your right hand 
before a mirror. You will recognize it as your left hand. 
Something has happened to the rays of light that went from 
your hand to the mirror and now come out again. They invert, 
or turn your right hand into a left hand. They have changed 




Fig. 120. THE POLARISCOPE. 



SUGAR, ETC. 307 

the poles of direction. By the varying action of the Sugar 
molecules on a ray of light in a similar way, the quality of the 
Sugar in the solution of Sugar and water is determined, as 
certain molecules produce the best Sugar, and certain other 
molecules the poorest, etc. And as we have said, the vast 
financial interests involved have encouraged chemical research. 
The Dutch set the standards that are in use as to the quantity 
of Sugar solution, angle of light, etc. 

Is there a difference between Molasses and Sirup ? 

Yes. The residue from the first making of Sugar is called 
Molasses. The residue from the refineries is Sirup. The 
"golden drips " or Sirup is Invert Sugar separated from all 
foreign substances, and is probably composed of molecules con- 
taining six carbons, twelve hydrogens and six oxygens — that is, 
Glucose — and other molecules containing twelve carbons, 
twenty-two hydrogens and eleven oxygens — that is Saccha- 
rose. But these molecules refuse to immediately coalesce into 
crystals. 

Describe the Sugar Crystal? 

You may study it in any piece of rock candy, where you will 
see the form which pure Saccharose must assume. The crystal 
is called a monoclinic— that is, it has one intersection, and that 
inclines. It is not hygroscopic — that is, it will not attract 
moisture to its surface, like glass. It is scientifically called a 
rhomboidal prism, but it may be more clearly described as a 
nearly square tabular formation with sloping edges. A deep 
groove (the t€ intersection ") divides it in two parts. If broken 
in the dark the hard crystal will give a bluish flash. 

What is the product of a Sugar Beet Factory? 

It may be thirty tons a day or more. The operation is usually 
continuous, running night and day and Sundays. There is a 
laboratory for chemical tests. Whether it be crystallized Sugar, 
Sugar juice, or beets that are to be tested, the article is reduced 
to a solution in water, clarified if necessary, and submitted to 
the Polariscope, to find in what direction and at what angle a 
ray of light is turned by the molecules in the solution. Cattle- 
feed, ashes, coke, limestone, coal — all things used or made in 



308 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

the factory — are undergoing daily and repeated tests, to ascer- 
tain their molecular condition, and therefore their true value. 

What Beet is used? 

The Beta maritima, a mangold, or mangel-wurzel. The 
success of the diffusion process has dealt a blow to the cane 
plantations of the tropics, and it is not impossible that the United 
States may eventually produce all the Sugar which is consumed 
within the national borders. 

What is Maple Sugar ? 

It is an American product, which was made by the Indians 
before Columbus discovered America. It is known by a 
peculiar taste, generally liked by Americans, but disliked in 
Europe. It is the residue of boiled sap from the Sugar maple — 
acer saccharinum. This sap is very weak in Sugar, and over 
97 per cent, of water must be evaporated. The process is still 
primitive, although vast quantities of Sugar, estimated at over 
fifty million pounds, are annually made. It is possible that 
with refining and filtration, the pure crystal of Saccharose could 
be obtained, but this would destroy the essential characteristic 
of Maple Sugar, and damage the market. 

Describe a Sugar Bush or Camp. 

The trees are tapped with one spout, driven in on the sunny 
side. Snow is still on the ground. The sap runs best while 
the sun shines. Wooden troughs stand under the trees to catch 
the sap, and big iron kettles are hung over roaring forest fires 
that burn all night, frequently with merry-making. From the 
deep kettles the sirup passes to pans, and thence to tubs, where 
sediment may settle, particularly the malate of lime, called by 
the farmers " Sugar-sand." Malic acid is the essential principle 
of apples. After settling, the sirup goes again to pans, and 
soon after it boils it is ready to granulate. It is now poured 
into moulds and on cooling, has formed a compact body. 

What is Maple Sirup ? 

It may be made by leaving the original water in the product, 
or by adding the proper quantity to the Sugar. The latter way 
saves freight. Naturally, the compounding of maple sirup in 



SUGAR, ETC 309 

the large cities has led to the introduction of adulteratives, 
until the people have come to regard city sirup as certain to 
contain Glucose. But reliable dealers — that is, merchants of 
recognized commercial standing — are especially averse to these 
unfair practices. 
What is Glucose? 

Glucose, once called Glycose, is one of the two Sugars. It 
has six atoms of carbon, twelve of hydrogen and six of oxygen 
in each molecule. In its commercial form it has not been 
permitted to crystallize, and is a thick, glassy, light-colored 
sirup. If it has been crystallized, it goes under the name of 
u Grape Sugar." Enormous factories, twelve stories high, 
covering wide areas of ground, are devoted to its manufacture. 

What is Glucose good for ? 

It is one of the most serviceable substitutes ever discovered 
by the adulterators, hence the unfavorable notoriety which it 
has obtained. But it is in itself a valuable though inferior 
Sugar. It serves equally well with Sugar as a preservative, 
hence may take the place of Saccharose in all preserves of fruit. 
Its use in candy is objectionable, but all the cheaper grades of 
candy are probably thus made. One of its principal uses is as 
common alcohol, into which it may be easily converted. This 
alcohol may be put in wine, beer, other liquors, or it may be 
oxidized into vinegar, as we have seen. 

What is Glucose made from ? 

From starch. The starch is made from corn, and we have 
described the process under the head of Corn. But after the 
grinding of the corn-mash and the separation of the germs and 
the gluten, the remaining starch goes with water to the con- 
verters. The converter is a great closed copper boiler, into 
which steam pipes lead. These steam pipes are perforated, so 
that the live steam is injected into the starch-water at a pressure 
of forty pounds. About twenty-five pounds of muriatic or sul- 
phuric acid are added for one thousand pounds of Glucose. The 
heating occupies about an hour. The starch has now been con- 
verted into Glucose. 



310 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



What is the supposed molecule of Starch ? 

It is formed of thirty-six atoms of carbon, sixty-two atoms of 
hydrogen, and thirty-one atoms of oxygen. To this molecule 
there cling twelve molecules of water, each molecule of water 
having two atoms of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen. The heat 
and the acid have disrupted the starch molecules, and they have 
formed into the easiest combinations, which are or seem to be 
Sugar combinations, the water molecules joining the water in 
the solution and leaving the carbon atoms. The acid molecules 
are still present in the solution. 

What is a Neutralizer ? 

The neutralizing tank receives the Glucose sirup out of the 
converter. If muriatic acid were used in the converter, then 
soda is now added. Muriatic acid was named from sea salt 
before it was known that chlorine gas was its principal part. 
It is hydrochloric acid, and has a wonderful affinity for sodium 
or its compounds. (See Salt.) The soda therefore seizes all 
the hydrochloric-acid molecules. If sulphuric acid were used in 
the converters, marble-dust is added and the calcium molecules 
in the marble-dust attack the sulphur molecules. These mole- 
cules are now to be strained away through canvas bags, as in 
the sugar refineries, or in filter-presses. The Glucose comes 
out as " bag liquor ,J or " press liquor/' according to the process. 
It is still yellow-colored, and has many atoms of sulphur, 
calcium, potash, sodium and other undesired Elements clinging 
to its molecules. It still is in a solution of 70 per cent, water. 
It now goes on the bone charcoal filters, which are not half 
so high as those in the big sugar refineries. The fluid perco- 
lates through twenty feet of bone dust, and comes out "ligh. 
liquor." 

Is it now boiled? 

Yes, in vacuum-kettles, like cane juice. A system of three 
kettles is in use, called a triple-effect, which utilizes steam that 
once went to waste. After it leaves the triple kettles it is 60 per 
cent. Sugar. 



SUGAR, ETC. 



311 







Fig, 120. TRIPLE EFFECT EVAPORATION. 

Is there another filtration ? 

Yes. " Light liquor " is not commercially pure enough. It 
must again percolate through the charred bone. After this the 
sirup goes to the final pans, and comes off as 41, 42, 43, 44 
Glucose, according to its gravity. As an adulterant it is desired 
in its thinnest grade. 

Suppose it be concentrated and crystallized? 

It is then Grape Sugar, which is used by the brewers and wine- 
sophisticators. Grape Sugar may also be mixed with cane 
Sugar. As Glucose is made from starch, it follows that in 
countries where starch is produced cheaper from potatoes than 
from corn, as in Germany, potato-starch furnishes the material. 

Is Sugar made from Milk ? 

Yes. The Swiss dairies secure Sugar as a bye-product in the 
manufacture of cheese. It passes into the whey, and is ex- 
tracted by evaporation and crystallization. The molecule is a 
Saccharose molecule with one water molecule clinging to it. 
This makes milk Sugar less sweet than Saccharose. A solution 
of milk Sugar and water does not soon become sirupy. The 
homeopathists use milk Sugar by preference as a vehicle in 
which to administer their dry medicines, and the small pills of 
all kinds that have become so familiar have usually been com- 
pounded in Swiss Sugar. 



312 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is Sorghum ? 

Sorghum was called Guinea corn and Chinese Sugar-cane. 
It is a millet. Along in the 'so's it was believed that Sorghum 
would be generally cultivated in America, and the civil war 
encouraged widespread attempts on the part of the northern 
farmers to produce molasses from this plant. It very closely 
resembles corn, and grows easily in all corn countries. But 
Sorghum molasses was not liked by the people, and the product 
became less after the civil war ended, and the price of better 
Sugar and sirup fell to a peace basis. 

What is Rock Candy ? 

It is a collection of the crystals of Saccharose. It is used by 
the ton in the making of patent medicines, by liquor dealers 
and by druggists. It once was a popular confection. Only 
the best granulated refined Sugar will serve the Rock Candy 
manufacturer's purpose. Four or five barrels of the Sugar are 
emptied into a closed copper boiler, jacketed with steam pipes, 
and a thick sirup is made in a half hour. This sirup is poured 
into copper-pots, which are twice as wide at top as at bottom. 

Describe these crystallizing-pots. 

Across the interior of the pots cotton cords are strung in 
goodly number, all the way up. The cords run through holes 
in the sides of the pot, and the holes are battened with plaster- 
of-paris, which holds the cords and stops all leakage. The pots 
each contain five gallons of sirup. They now go to the hot 
house, to stand on shelves for three days. The hot house is 
kept at 160 degrees above zero. The crystals form on the 
strings and on the sides of the pot, and finally they form a crust 
on the surface of the sirup. 

Is any Sirup left ? 

Yes. The sirup is drained off and sold at the soda fountains, 
saloons and drug-stores. It is Simple Sirup. After the sirup 
is drained away, the candy is washed with water and dried in a 
temperature of 70 degrees. In drying, the pot stands upside 
down over a trough. When the candy is fully glazed, the 
plaster-of-paris is removed from the outside, the strings drop 



SUGAR, ETC. 313 

down, the pot is struck smartly with a mallet, and the candy 
falls in a mass on the packing board. It is now weighed and 
packed for market in five and forty pound boxes. 

Is Rock Candy colored? 

Yes. Carmine is added in red rock, and this is the only 
rock candy that is not pure Saccharose. Yellow rock is colored 
with burnt sugar. The manufacture of the coloring matter is 
a disagreeable and unhealthy operation, owing to the smoke. 
The workmen wear respirators. 

What is Caramel? 

The word is corrupted from the Latin for honey-cane (canna 
mellis). Sugar becomes caramel at 400 degrees of heat — that 
is, it burns. Burnt sugar was needed for coloring, in rock 
candy^ for brandy, etc. About 1865, the word began to be used 
in America for a confection that was midway between a hard or 
granulated candy and a sirup. Caramels, as we know them, 
are made by boiling cream or concentrated milk, sugar and 
chocolate, and it is chocolate rather than burnt Sugar that gives 
the dark caramels their characteristic color. The mass is poured 
on a marble slab, cut in small squares, and wrapped by girls. 
An expert girl can wrap eight thousand caramels in paraffine 
paper in a day. 

How are small Candies molded? 

In corn starch. Corn starch is packed in shallow boxes. A 
press holding many dies descends on the starch and leaves the 
rows of molds. One factory may use twenty-five thousand of 
these boxes. The cream candy is run into the molds. Even 
the soft Marshmallows are thus cast. Starch is used at all stages, 
also as a powder to facilitate manipulation. The starch molds 
holding their candies, go to the a starch-buck/' which breaks 
away the mold, lets the starch through vibrating sieves, carries 
the candies past brushes, and leaves them free of starch. 

How are Gum-Drops made ? 

They may be cast from Glucose and starch. Such are the 
cheapest. They are made from pure Sugar and gum arabic. 
These are costly. After coming from the " starch-buck, " both 



314 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

kinds are rolled in granulated Sugar. This gives them their 
rough appearance. 

How are Lozenges made ? 

Candy of this description is stamped out of cold sugar, and all 
other forms are made by boiling in water, or other fluid mix- 
tures. Of course, other material, such as flour, starch, or even 
terra alba, may be mixed with the flour. The taste will usually 
determine the value of a candy lozenge. A rubber stamp is 
inked with cochineal, and a motto may be imprinted on the 
lozenge after it is made. 

How are small Polished Candies made ? 

They may or may not have a nut or seed inside. The Sugar 
may be deposited on the nut or seed by crystallization, or by 
dipping. When the candies are of the right size, they are placed 
in a copper pan which revolves rapidly. The centrifrugal motion 
polishes and rounds the pieces. 

How is Chocolate used? 

It may be ground on the premises, or bought in ten-pound 
cakes from the chocolate factories which we have described. 
(See Coffee, etc.) The cream candy, cast in a corn-starch mold, 
may be dipped by machinery in a bath of chocolate and hot 
water, and carried on an endless belt through a long drying 
room. Or a girl may have before her a small kettle of hot choco- 
late, tilted on a steam coil. She places a candy on a wire spoon 
and dips it in the chocolate. The wet chocolate-drop is then 
placed on an oil-cloth in the drying frame. A girl sometimes 
dips three thousand drops in a day. 

How is the costly ' 4 French Candy n made ? 

The best pulverized Sugar is used. Almonds and filberts are 
ground into paste. The paste may be mixed with cold Sugar. 
Pure cream may be used in the hot Sugar solution. A core of 
nut-paste may be dipped to the needed size, and the final dip- 
pings may be in colored solutions of various hues. Cochineal 
is added for the reds ; indigo for the blues ; gamboge and flowers 
for the yellows ; and green leaves from spinach and other vege- 



SUGAR, ETC. 



315 



tables, for the greens. The darker colors are usually chocolates 
and burnt sugars. 

How are Cocoa-Nuts used? 

They enter the factory whole. The meat is extracted, cut up 
and boiled in a kettle with rotating dashers. Sugar is added. 
After cooking, like candy, the mass is rolled on a marble slab 
and made into small biscuits. These are browned in an oven. 
The mass may be molded and then cut up in strips. This candy 
is highly nutritious, but difficult to preserve in good condition. 




iTi iTftTaTitTii 

TTTTrT 




What three cardinal things may be named in the Universe ? 
Motion (Light and Heat), Matter and Life. All these are 
different, yet Motion and Life are somewhat alike in nature. 

Wherein does Life differ from Motion ? 

Life is a Motion that is eccentric, jerky or suspended. It 
has no regularity or period. If we see a speck of Life in a drop 
of water, it may go here or there, or it may stand still. 

Of what is that Speck composed? 

Beside the Life it has, it is an untheorized compound of car- 
bon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, like other carbon com- 
pounds whose molecules are as yet too complicated in structure 
to adjust to any theory of formation yet offered. 

When this compound moves with Life what is it called? 

Bioplasm. When it is dead, it is Protoplasm. The chemists 
cannot make it. It is the chemical result of other living pro- 
cesses. 

What surroundings are necessary to this Bioplasm ? 

Light, Heat, Electricity, moisture, etc. All may be present, 
however, and death may still result. 

What does 7iature do with Bioplasm ? 

In greater or less quantities it forms the vegetable and animal 
growths of the world. It may exist alone in one small, original 
mass, frequently doubling, or it may exist with millions of simi- 
lar masses, and all in association with hard or soft structure 
formed from the masses of its forerunners or fellows. 

316 



LIFE. 317 

What does the microscope show ? 

The commonest and easiest sight, and the most instructive, 
is secured by obtaining water under a green scum in a pond and 
putting it in the " aquarium " of the microscope. An animal 
called a Rotifer, with a bell-shaped body or mouth and long 
tail, will come into the field of the glass and fasten his long and 
sometimes spiral tail on the trunk of the twig — the scum-matter. 
Then he will start wheels of hair (cilia) going around his mouth 
and a vortex of water will suck monads or smaller animals into 
his paunch. The scene is marvelous, and offers to the mind 
some estimation of the small division into which the molecules 
of water must themselves be carried. The Rotifer divides into 
two animals. 

What is his body made of? 

Apparently a glass or mica-like substance. The gizzard or 
stomach may be a green color, from the scum-matter. This 
animal will swallow another Rotifer by error, and throw it out 
at once. In his early and glass-like state, this animal is a hydro- 
carbon compound, endowed with Life. 

Name a still lower form of matter in which Life acts. 

In the Amoeba. This is a small, jelly-like Bioplasm, which 
does not retain the same shape for two successive minutes. It 
obtains its food by flowing around it; lays hold of its food with- 
out members, swallows without a mouth, digests without a 
stomach. It moves without muscles. The separation of any 
fragment of this jelly originates another independent Living 
creature. 

What is seen in Frog's blood ? 

Movement of white blood cells that follow the characteristics 
of the Amoeba. They seek holes in the blood-vessels, wander 
through and fasten upon the tissues, either to feed, or be fed 
to, the cells that they reach. Or the cell may seek a structure, 
and become a part of that structure, such as bone, hair, or 
nail, when it ceases to have Life. Animals usually consume 
plants; yet there are plants that eat animals. 



318 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Summarize, theft, your remarks on Life. 

If molecules of chlorine and sodium come together under cer- 
tain conditions, there is agitation, condensation, perhaps explo- 
sion, and salt results. These new molecules undoubtedly remain 
in a state of movement, but it is of a stated kind. Again, we 
may compose a hydro-carbon compound that will resemble Bi- 
oplasm. Its molecules move, but with law. Now, a simi- 
larly-appearing hydro-carbon compound called an Amoeba moves, 
but without law. It may move in. opposition to heat and cold, 
or with them. The molecular movement of Living bodies can 
not, at present, be theorized. That fact is Life. 





Zhe Bicycle, 



iT i T i T iJti 
TTTT 



OT « I » M < 




For what is this machine remarkable ? 

For the appeal it has made to all classes. Priests, Bishops, 
Judges, ministers, Governors, women and little children have 
alike utilized it. Since the introduction of the sewing-machine, 
in the 'so's, there has not been an invention that was so 
readily accepted by all the people. 

What has been the result ? 

A machine that is said by mechanicians to be the most perfect 
adjustment to varying and difficult conditions that has ever been 
attained by human ingenuity. The Bicyle of to-day shows the 
best results of a larger volume of invention than any other 
mechanical device. 

What are its merits ? 

The tire takes the greatest practical portion of the jar. The 
spokes have the principle of the Ferris Wheel — that is, the wheel 
is a continuous bridge, hanging by the little wires, that are never 
required to do duty in holding anything up. The axles all bear 
on steel balls, thus meeting the smallest friction. The machine 
has been reduced in height fifty per cent., with increase of 
speed, thus adding to safety. The chain or gearing gives a 
leverage, and also enables the rider to sit between the wheels, 
where the seat is easiest. The weight of the machine has been 
placed where it best suits the natural pace and momentum of 
the rider, and a Bicycle may be as light or as heavy as is 
desired. 

319 



320 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is the Drop Forging ? 

This is the piece of steel at every angle in the Bicycle truss, 
which bears the chief part of the strain, making it feasible to 
use tubes rather than bars in the rest of the frame. 

How many Drop Forgings are used 7 

From nine to seventeen, usually the latter number. The entire 
lot of adjuncts to the frame, excepting the steel tubes — the forks, 
hubs, cranks, axles, heads, posts, etc., are forged, not molded. 

How do the Drop Forgings come to the Bicycle Factory ? 

As solid chunks of steel. Take the main frame head, for 
instance. It is a very heavy steel billet, but it has been ham- 
mered into the exterior shape demanded as the corner-piece of 
the frame, where the greatest strain will bear. The Bicycle- 
maker puts it into a drill and bores out the holes which he 
requires for the entrance of the tubes. 

How is the Forging itself made ? 

Oil furnaces stand in rows, each one with a forge-hammer 
before it. A hard steel die or steel mold has been made, half 
of which is on the anvil, and the other half is on the lower side 
of the forge hammer. The workman sticks his steel bar in the 
furnace and heats it to a lemon color. Then he places it on the 
lower half of the die, touches the releasing lever with his foot, 
and a hammer weighing from four hundred to thirteen hundred 
pounds falls. The hammer then works until stopped. The upper 
part of the die tries to close on the lower part, and gradually 
the piece takes the shape needed, and becomes all the more 
strong from the forging. After the forming die, there come the 
finishing and trimming dies. The sinking or making of all the 
dies required in the Bicyle business itself represents a mountain 
of labor. 

Is the frame the heaviest part of a Bicycle? 

No, it is the lightest — that is, it does not weigh over one-fifth 
of the whole mass. The wheels weigh the most, because of the 
comparatively large mass of hubs, wires and tires. The wires 
are so numerous and each usually so small, that economy of 
weight cannot be practised on them singly. 



THE BICYCLE. 321 

What parts of the Bicycle have furnished opportunity for 
separate industries ? 

There are steel mills for tubing, forging works, rubber tire 
works, works for wooden tires, spokes, saddles, lamps, chains 
and balls. A good Bicycle factory may wisely purchase all these 
adjuncts. 

What remains to do ? 

The vast and unintermitting labor of drilling the forgings, 
brazing the frames, nickel-plating the forgings, enameling the 
tubes, stringing and hanging the wheels — and so on. 

What is this latter part called? 

Assembling. The tubes are crushed or pressed at the ends, 
and brazed into the forgings with borax and pewter at little 
charcoal forges. The frame, after hours of filing and testing, 
goes to the enameler who corks the open holes and dips it into 
the enamel. It is then baked in a large annealing oven and 
afterward striped by the painter. 

How are the Sprocket- Wheels made? 

They come in steel disks. These are clamped together into 
a cylinder and the teeth of say, twenty, are cut at once. When 
a steel forging has taken the nickel-plate it is held against 
rapidly revolving cotton fibres, where its final polish is com- 
municated to it. A factory which drills its forgings, enamels its 
tubes, plates its fittings, hangs its wheels and assembles its 
Bicycles, will need ten thousand feet of floor space. 

How are the Rubber Tires made ? 

The general subject of India Rubber is treated in a separate 
chapter of this volume, and may be consulted. The molds in 
which the rubber tires are vulcanized are expensive, and yet 
must change with new styles and inventions. Much rubber is 
blistered in vulcanization. The process at several of the great 
tire factories is nearly as follows: The raw rubber is washed 
and ground or flattened into a thin sheet. The water is then 
thoroughly dried out, a slow process. The rubber is cut up and 
mixed with naphtha and sulphur, forming a thick paste. This 
21 



322 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

paste is now spread on sheets of linen by machinery, and the 
linen with its rubber is passed over hot rollers, to remove the 
naphtha, as it has done its work by liquifying the rubber. The 
linen sheets are next cut into strips about eight inches wide, and 
the rubber is taken from the linen. The rubber is now ready for 
the molds, in which it is to be vulcanized (that is, sulphurized). 
The molds are subjected to a heat of two hundred and eighty 
degrees for an hour or two, after which, the rubber having 
become a sulphur compound, is no longer susceptible to ordinary 
changes of heat or cold. If the rubber is too damp it blisters, and 
it is ruined, for naphtha will not dissolve it after vulcanization. A 
large portion of the common expense of manufacture is due to 
the misfortunes of blistering. The process throughout is one 
requiring experience, vigilance and great skill. 

How are the Wheels hung ? 

By experts who put each wheel in a position to observe its 
balance. The little steel balls are set in a box that surrounds 
the axle, the rubber tire is put on the wooden rim, and the steel 
wires are screwed up. The tube in the rubber tire offers the 
gauge of perfect equilibrium, and a wheel does not leave the 
workman's hands until it meets the following requirements : 
The tube is placed at 90 degrees on the rim of the wheel. Then 
the wheel is left to itself. The wheel swings back like a pen- 
dulum, but when it shall stop the tube must be exactly at the 
bottom of the wheel. Until this result is accomplished, the 
spokes must be re-arranged. 







mm 

'Mm 



ft 



iTnTtTiTiJl 

Soap, * 

& Sl\ Si\ sl\SJ\ ST\ Xrv >7\ /T\ ^TS. - J ^/TX' J ^^TV-^rV^(K£S > l < 







A washing substance compounded of (the chemical product 
of) a fat and an alkali. There are two great alkalis — sodium 
and potassium. A soda and a fat make hard Soap; a potash 
and a fat make soft Soap. There are six other Elements — cal- 
cium, strontium, barium, lithium, rubidium and caesium that 
are alkaline. Lime (oxide of calcium) long figured as a material 
in Soap. 

What is the history of Soap ? 

The word sapo, Latin for Soap, was borrowed from the Ger- 
mans by the Romans. Pliny, in his Roman Encyclopedia called 
"Natural History" (28: 12), says that Soap is a Gaulish inven- 
tion, made of fat and ashes, — the best of beechwood ashes and 
goat's fat, of two kinds, thick and soft. The plant struthion, 
lye, and bolar earths were also used as substitutes for Soap in 
washing. The Gauls used their Soap as a pomatum (on the 
hair). All this from Pliny. Beckman, in his " History of Inven- 
tions," notes that quicklime was added to the northern Soaps. 
Du Cange, in his " Glossary/' at the word Lascivium, says the 
barbers had a peculiar Soap, so called, from which came the 
word lather. But we have in Anglo Saxon, leadhor for nitre 
(saltpetre) and wyrt (wort) for yeast, and lather was thus nitre- 
yeast. 

323 



324 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What may we deduce regarding Soap from a general read- 
ing of history ? 

We may readily believe that a prepared Soap would be a 
product of cold climes, where the human skin would least 
readily cleanse itself by perspiration. Inasmuch as all that is 
needed for cleansing is the lye (alkali), man could scour himself 
with lime or clay, or mix the ashes of his pot (hence potash) 
with the water in which he bathed his hands. At the sea-shore 
he would burn seaweeds, or on the natron-beds he would gather 
nitre (saltpetre) for embalming purposes, and thus learn its 
cleansing virtue. Borax would bring about the same knowledge, 
and borax often lies on the surface of the earth. When we put 
an alkali on a greasy cloth, the alkali at once combines with the 
grease and forms Soap. When the housewife buys borax instead 
of Soap at the grocery, she dispenses with the unneeded fat that 
otherwise must gather in her catch-basin or elsewhere on her 
premises. 

Why, then, is fat put into the alkalis ? 

Because there has not yet been invented a better plan of 
handling the alkalis in a dilute form. Even borax is abandoned 
because its use results in sore hands, while the modern Soaps 
are so made that they are a benefit to the skin — or, at least, 
they leave the skin as soft as it was. 

Then Sodium and Potassium are the active principles of 
modern Soap ? 

Yes. We have treated these great alkaline Elements with 
sufficient care in the chapters on Salt (for sodium) and 
Chemistry. They enter into our salt, glass, chinaware, Soap 
and all the bleachings of our textile fabrics. With chlorine and 
sulphur we have a group of four Elements outside of the four 
Life-Elements (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen) that 
cannot command too much of our study and attention, as they 
stand for civilization and comfort. 

Where does the Soap of our household mainly come from ? 
The alkali in it comes from the ocean in the shape of salt. 
From the salt is made the caustic soda that American manufac- 



SOAP. 325 

turers use. It is produced in England and shipped to the 
American cities in iron drums holding about six hundred pounds 
each. Our Soap is made at the great cities, and the Soap- 
makers fit the amount of soda closely to the particular region 
wherein it is to be used. Where the water is hard, more caustic 
soda is put in the Soap. If a Soap does not sell in a certain 
region, it is considered that it has not been adjusted to local 
conditions, and a study of those conditions is undertaken. 

How is ordinary hard Soap made at these factories ? 

The kettle is three stories high, lined with steam coils. It 
may hold 280,000 pounds of Soap. If a man fall in this kettle 
of boiling Soap, only the metal frames of the buttons on his 
clothes are found. The rest of him has been turned into Soap. 
In the chapter on Butter we showed that oleomargarine oil was 
pressed from cakes of tallow. The cakes that were left come to 
the Soap factory in the form of stearine, and there is some 
tallow. All the fat for the common Soaps comes from the 
slaughtering-houses or stock-yards. Barrels of good resin are 
put in, for yellow Soaps. The tallow and stearine are melted 
out of their barrels by hot blasts of steam. The caustic soda is 
dissolved in separate steam-vats fifteen feet in diameter and 
twenty feet deep. This soda-lye, tallow and resin mav now be 
supposed to be boiling in the monster kettle. 

What happens after the Soap has cooked ? 

Strong brine (salt and water) is let in, and this floats the thick 
Soap on top. Then water alone is added. Both of these 
operations must be in the hands of an expert. The Soap is now 
on top, while glycerine, salt and unused lye lie at the bottom. 
These are all to be saved, the glycerine being sold to dynamite- 
makers. Now the warm kettle is left alone for several days. 
Some of the Soap is then drawn off by a pipe into a crutching- 
machine, holding say twelve hundred pounds, where it is beaten 
and churned. Here carbonate of soda is added, to the amount 
indicated by the climate to which the Soap is going. The 
carbonate whitens the mass, which is as soft as thick pudding. 



326 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Where does the Soap go, out of the crutching-machine? 

On the floor below a pipe opens out of the crutching-machine. 
A man with a car on which is an iron box, or mold, with re- 
movable sides, receives a box-full of the Soap — a mass say four 
and a half feet long, three and a half feet high, and fifteen 
inches wide. It is a quivering jelly, which hardens in a few 
days. 

How is the Soap cut into bars ? 

The sides of the iron box knock down, and the big cake of 
hard Soap is placed on a moving platform. This platform 
travels between upright posts. Across between the posts are 
strung sharp steel wires or knives, as far apart as the width of a 
bar of Soap. The wires cut the big cake in slabs, and the slabs 
are cut into bars by other wires. The bars go to the drying- 
room, where fans operate. 

How are the bars of Soap packed? 

By boys. There may be seventy boys in a room, each with a 
stamping machine. The name of the Soap and the name of the 
manufacturer may be stamped on each bar. The bar is wrapped, 
and a box is filled with the wrapped bars. A smart boy can 
prepare 7,000 bars in a day. The factory may turn out 5,000 
boxes in a day. This Soap may be "loaded" with " body" — 
kao-lin, coarser silica, chalk, starch and even molasses. It is 
probable that a Soap which enjoys a big run has little mere 
"body" in it, as city waste-water pipes and hard city water are 
likely to make loaded Soaps unwelcome aids in the wash. 

How are the small cakes of roundish toilet Soap made? 

By a much longer operation after reaching the hard stage. 
The materials, too, for the fats are cocoanut oil from Ceylon, 
palm-kernel oil from Madagascar, palm oil from Africa, peanut 
oil and cotton seed oil. There is no resin. There is likely to be 
some "loading," except where the toilet Soap is so plain and 
cheap as to have become a necessity rather than a refinement. 
The hard bar of toilet Soap is sliced fine and left to dry out. 
The dry slices are ground with pigments and perfumes, rolled 
and re-ground. Two hundred pounds of slicings will take 



SOAP. .327 

a quart of the tincture used as perfumery. There will be 
only two ounces of pigments, so one need not fear the color in 
Soaps. Tar may be added to the shavings for tar Soap — as any 
"loading" of oat meal, silica, or chalk may go in. Or medi- 
cines may be added, where the Soap is to be used to cure skin 
diseases. In this case, the admixture may be with carbolic acid, 
petroleum, borax, camphor, chlorine compounds, iodind, mer- 
cury compounds, sulphur or tannin. For the taxidermists an 
Arsenic Soap is made with lime. The Soap having been ground 
a sufficient number of times, it is molded by pressure, by being 
forced, like lead or dough, through a hole. The cylindrical or 
roundish sticks that result are about four feet long. From these 
are molded the little cakes that go six in a box to market. The 
French make these Soaps so finely that their best cakes cost 
over a dollar each, and may be used for years as perfumery be- 
fore actual consumption. While the American makes of toilet 
Soap are not to be thus used as perfumatories, it may still be 
said that we are served with a simple, cheap, white hand-Soap 
that is more delicate in perfume and at the same time more use- 
ful in the wash than the product of any other nation. From 
these justly popular brands of Soap not the slightest trace of 
rancidity remains on the person after their use. 

How is Castile Soap made ? 

From the ashes of sea-weed (soda) and olive oil. When a 
man has a child born to him, he is informed that the baby can 
be washed with nothing but Castile Soap. This popular faith is 
as strong to-day as in the times when our grandmothers set up 
the leach, and made lye with ashes and lime for soft Soap. 
Our old brown soft Soap would doubtless have been a little too 
much for the baby. 

How is transparent Soap made ? 

The Soap shavings are dissolved in alcohol. The alcohol is 
partly distilled off. The residue is a jelly, like a fruit-juice. 
This is cast or cut into little bars, and becomes the beautiful 
Yankee Shaving Soap, which once was so much in dem md, 
What makes certain brands of hard Soap float in • ? 

The fact that the Soap weighs exactly as much as water — a 



328 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

cubic inch of the Soap displaces a cubic inch of water. All 
Soap floats in the cauldron and leaves beneath it a residue of 
various compounds, as has been said. But the water mixed with 
potash into lye is nearly half again as heavy as distilled water, 
so it would support very heavy Soap. If we call the weight of 
water 1,000, then we find the weight of sodium to be 972 ; 
potassium, 973; tallow, 942; beeswax, 956; resin, 1,100; chalk, 
2,784; gypsum, 2,280; other white earths, above 2,200; strong 
lye of either soda or potash, 1,500; olive oil, 915; whale oil, 
923; butter, 942. Soap, to float, must have ingredients that 
weigh no more than 1,000 altogether, and the fact that it floats 
argues that it carries very little " body " such as the earthy sub- 
stances that are sometimes used as fillers. If 942 ounces of 
tallow were boiled in a solution of 6 per cent, caustic potash and 
water that weighed 1,058 ounces, the result must be a compound 
no heavier than water, and it must float in water. Whatever 
portion of alkali remains in the water below, when the Soap is 
drawn off, lightens the Soap just so much, and the lye may be 
so much the stronger than 6 per cent, at the beginning of the 
process. By experiment, it will be seen that the lightest Soaps 
are kept at the exact balance of 1,000, and do no more than 
float, while ice weighs only 930, and emerges from the water. 




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What do we know about Light ? 

Our theories grow more and more faulty as the experimenters 
advance in the actual treatment of Light. The Spectroscope is 
able to divide a small line of light into 140,000 cross-bars of 
light and darkness in each inch of the sun's spectrum, and this 
division may evidently go on to infinity ; and, beside that, dark- 
ness may mean only darkness by comparison with greater light. 
Again, there are several kinds of rays that are not seen at all — 
making heat at the red end, making chemical change at the blue 
end of the spectrum. Then, still again, the X Rays exist. Red, 
green and blue are seemingly degrees of speed in the action of 
Light. (See Spectroscope.) 

Is all this new ? 

All this is old, except the X Rays. You will find the following 
sentence from "Chambers' Encyclopedia" (article, Spectrum), 
printed in 1872, of especial interest since Dr. Roentgen's dis- 
covery : "What we can see is not the whole spectrum, but a 
mere fraction of it, for, beyond the red end, there are invisible 
rays, recognized at once by their heating powers ; and beyond 
the violet there are are invisible rays, more powerful than the 
visible in producing chemical changes, as on a photographic 
plate ; these can be changed into visible rays by fluorescent 
substances." 

What is Light ? 

An exhibition of Force acting on Matter. We have a fair idea 
of Matter, and a fair idea of Force. There still remains in 

330 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 331 

nature a thing, called Life (see Life), that is a closer union of 
Force and Matter than Light. 

What was the invention of Chassagne ? 

He produced photographs in the colors of nature. He 
immersed a gelatine plate in a colorless solution of unrevealed 
character. On the gelatine plate a photographic negative was 
taken in the ordinary manner, and treated as any other negative 
would be treated. From this negative a photograph was printed 
on sensitized paper that had been treated with the colorless 
secret solution. So far there is no color-work. But the print 
has acquired the power to select the proper colors from color- 
solutions or dyes into which it is now dipped. There are three 
of these dippings, in three dyes — red, yellow and blue. Colors 
as difficult of production as mother-of-pearl and irridescent glass 
are thus secured on the paper print by the mere selective agency 
of the print. 

What was done by the printers? 

Wonderful imitations on paper of porcelain, rugs, carpets, oil- 
cloths and other colored articles of merchandise were secured by 
somewhat similar means — the printer putting his paper to press 
on half-tone photographic cuts or pictures in three colors of 
ink — red, white and yellow. Even a black was well simulated. 
The selective action of the colors was astonishing, and suggested 
the need of entirely new theories of the laws of Light and the 
ideas of color. 

What is a Stereoscope ? 

It is an instrument which takes advantage of the fact that the 
two eyes of a human being form different images of objects 
within certain distances. Euclid made the first optical demon- 
stration of this kind. Wheatstone and Brewster brought the 
Stereoscope to the form usually seen in parlors, where each eve 
looks through a refracting prism, and pictured weeds or trees in 
a field stand out in a photograph, as if the photograph were a 
real field. 

What did this lead to ? 

The Magic Lantern was developed into a Stereopticon, and 
stereopticon pictures, much enlarged, were thrown upon a screen. 




E 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 333 

With the invention of the Kinetoscope, its passing pictures were 
placed in a Stereopticon (See Kinetoscope) and the wonderful 
reproductions of the Queen's Jubilee, the Czar's Coronation, 
the Corbett^Fitzsimmons encounter, the German military maneu- 
vers, and other stirring scenes, were exhibited to the people 
under the names of Vitascope, Cinematographe, Ediscope, etc. 
The Edison Kinetoscope is a box holding the pictures, into 
which the spectator peers, beholding only miniature scenes, that 
move with extreme and unnatural rapidity. 

What is Heat ? 

Heat is that thing which follows or causes certain activities of 
the molecules into which the Elements and their compounds are 
divided. If you take the temperature of your hand for a 
thermometer, then anything in which the molecules are revolving 
or meeting more rapidly than the molecules in your hand are 
revolving — that thing is warm or hot ; if less rapidly, that thing 
is cool or cold. 

How is Heat conducted ? 

Either by radiation through the air and through bodies in 
straight lines, or by means of conduction, in any direction from 
warmer to colder mediums. A radiant heat is a greater 
exhibition of energy. It may pass through a medium without 
heating the medium. The degree of energy is measured by 
the length of the wave sent across matter. If a radiant body 
send out waves that are each longer than eight hundred and 
twelve millionths of a millimeter — 

But tell me what a millimeter is f 

A centimeter is over three-eighths of an inch. A millimeter 
is one-tenth of this three-eighths of an inch. Divide this one- 
tenth into millionths, and if the wave is longer than 812 of these 
millionths, the eye cannot see the light, although the ther- 
mometer will make a record. At 812 the light is red; at 500, 
bright green ; at 400, a feeble violet and the thermometer ceases 
to act, but the photographic plate has long shown increasing 
agitation; at 200 the eye sees no light again, but the photo- 
graphic plate shows chemical change due to the battering of 
molecules. 



334 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Is Heat the same as Motion ? 

Under this theory, yes. All molecules are moving all the 
time. In solid bodies, as in gold, the path of the molecule is 
narrow. In fluids, the molecule moves through the entire ex- 
tent of the fluid, meeting, clashing, rebounding, etc. In gases, 
the molecules move with highest velocities. Thus all gases must 
contain the greatest amount of Heat, liquids next and solids 
last. 

What was Pepper's Ghost ? 

Prof. Pepper, an English lecturer, visited America late in the 
7o's and exhibited many remarkable optical phenomena, one of 
which is referred to at the close of our chapter on Electricity. 
In another experiment, which is illustrated at the head of this 
chapter, Prof. Pepper was able to project the reflection of a 
young woman as a ghost upon the stage. She walked about 
the stage, walked through the Professor, and he accompanied 
the scene with a somewhat dramatic monologue. Pepper's 
Ghost created a popular sensation, and the lectures were largely 
attended in America. 

Why should we deal with Light and Heat in this chapter ? 

Because of our daily needs, at home and abroad. Our source 
of Light and Heat, the sun, is shut away from us for many hours 
each day. We therefore set forces at work, or liberate forces 
that agitate molecules of matter until our needs are supplied. 

What is our best artificial Light ? 

So far, Electricity furnishes it, and we have described, in the 
chapter on Electricity, the manner in which the two common 
forms of Electric Light are furnished to the people. 

What is the commonest Light? 

That produced by burning a wick whose lower end is 
immersed in Kerosene. Lamps for this purpose have been 
produced of every size and form, and stoves, both for heating 
and cooking, have long been in use. Great difficulty has arisen 
in overcoming the tendency of the lamp or stove to give off an 
odor. 






LIGHT AND HEAT. 



335 



Where does Kerosene come from ? 

It is refined from Petroleum, or rock oil, which flows or is 
pumped from wells sunk in various parts of the earth's surface, 
from Japan eastward at least to Indiana. The word Kerosene 
is also wax-ene, for Keros in Greek, means wax. 

What is Petroleum ? 

It is one stage in a series of untheorized chemical changes in 
hydro-carbon molecules. Naphtha may be found flowing out of 
the earth, a clear, limpid fluid. On reaching and mixing with 




Fig. 123. TAGLIABUE'S APPARATUS FOR TESTING COAL OIL. 



air, it grows thicker, and is Petroleum. Further exposure and 
contamination turn it into mineral tar. As it hardens it becomes 
asphalt or bitumen. There is no bitumen in what the miners 
call bituminous coal. 

Where zvas Petroleum discovered in America ? 

On Oil Creek, a tributary of Allegheny River, in Western 
Pennsylvania. A man named Blake was the discoverer in 1859. 
The great oil excitement and speculation did not come until 
war-time, and the first person enriched — called "Coal Oil 
Johnny," made a sensation with his easily-gotten money. Cities 
rose and fell, and there are places now devoid of inhabitants, 



336 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



where once were hotels, telegraph offices, daily rapers and 
"opera-houses." In those days, the wells spouted crude oil, 




Fig. 123^. DIAGRAM OF A STELL RIG FOR DRILLING OIL WELLS. 
A. Upright plan. B, Ground plan. 1, Derrick Frame. 2, Crown pulley. 3, Sand 
pump pulley. 4, Derrick girt. 5, Braces. 6, Ladder. 7, Bailer. 8, Walking beam. 9 
Headache post. 10, Bull wheels. 11, Band wheels. 12, Sand reel. 13, Ropes connecting 
with steam eugine. 14, Top of well. 15, Sand line. 16, Bull rope. 

and it ran to waste. But no gas wells had been found. The 
oil region gradually extended westward into Ohio. 

What finally followed the discovery of Oil Wells? 
The largest monopoly of trade in oil or, any other substance, 
that the world has seen. In 1870, the oil firm of Rockefeller, 






LIGHT AND HEAT. 337 

Andrews & Flagler, at Cleveland, formed the Standard Oil 
Company. This parent organization finally headed the Standard 
Oil Trust. In 1895, the ownership of the American fields and the 
Russian fields on the Caspian Sea at the Caucasus Mountains, 
were consolidated. A great refinery was established at Whiting, 
Indiana, near Chicago, and hundreds of vast tanks, like gas- 
holders, may be seen there as railway passengers from the East 
go to the western cities. The Standard Oil interests are 
perhaps the largest property ever held in ownership by private 
citizens in the history of the world. 

How does the Crude Oil get to Whiting? 

Principally by a pipe that runs through Indiana. The pipe 
empties into the great oil-holders, where it is " tanked" — that 
is, the water separates from it — about two per cent. 

How is Petroleum refined ? 

It goes to a boiler with a still attachment. About twelve 
thousand gallons are thus treated at a time. Live steam is 
injected, and a vapor of gasoline and naphtha rises into a worm 
and is condensed into liquids, to be further refined, the naphtha 
becoming benzine. About eighty-five per cent, of oil is left. 
This goes to another still, where it is mixed with a solution of 
a sodium compound and heated. Over half of the oil goes through 
the worm, and is condensed as crude illuminating oil. 

How is the Crude Oil refined? 

Four ounces of sulphuric acid to the gallon of oil are added, and 
the mass is agitated for half an hour. A tarry residue has then 
precipitated with the acid. The oil is passed through water, to 
wash it clean of sulphur; two per cent, of a sodium compound 
is again put in, agitated, and the oil again passed through water. 
The oil is then pumped into a fire still and distilled in a last 
solution of sodium compound. The oil that comes from the 
worm is now snow white, and is barreled in glue barrels or 
shipped in five gallon cans. The by-products are themselves 
refined, if necessary. 

Name these by-products of Petroleum. 

About fifty-four per cent, of illuminating oil for your lamp 

22 



338 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

was secured ; there will be seventeen per cent, of fine machinery 
oils ; fifteen per cent, of naphtha (three grades) ; two per cent, of 
gasoline ; two per cent, of parafline wax; and a loss of about ten 
per cent. 

What great feat was accomplished with Crude Oil? 
The largest battery of steam boilers ever set up in the world 
was heated by burning sprayed crude oil at the Chicago Fair 
of 1893. Steam for 27,000 horse-power of machinery was 
furnished without smoke or soot from the chimneys, leaving the 
buildings of the World's Fair white and clean, and Us atmosphere 
pure. 

What artificial Light did the Kerosene Lamp immediately 
displace ? 

The old "Spirit Lamp/' in which amphene was burned. The 
wick came up through two tubes, which had hoods, that must 
be put on the tubes when the Lamp was out of use. 

What was used before the Spirit Lamp ? 

The Candle, variously made, which was an improvement of 
the ancient Oil Lamp, in which a loose wick hung over the edge, 
or spout or "beak/' of an open vessel. Candles were made of 
tallow, in tin or zinc molds, in nearly every rural American 
household as late as i860. 

What had the Cities done, in the meantime, to light themselves ? 

They had set up gas-works, piped their streets and houses, 
and furnished an artificial Light that still holds its ground on 
account of economy, safety and convenience. In some ways, 
such as out-door illumination, the Electric Arc-Light has suc- 
ceeded, at the expense of the gas companies. 

Was Gas known to the Ancients f 

Yes. The gas-wells at Baku, on the Caspian Sea, were burn- 
ing when Thothmes III. pushed the power of Egypt to that 
quarter, early in the history of civilization. The Chinese have 
had gas-wells, with pipes of bamboo, for ages. 

How did Gas-Making begin in England? 

There had been a burning well at Wigan, which set the 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 339 

philosophers to the making of theories. Finally, they distilled 
gas from coal, and Clayton, late in the seventeenth century 
(about 1688), read his paper before the Royal Society. He had 
filled a bladder with gas. In his paper he said: u \ kept this 
spirit in bladders a considerable time, and endeavored several 
ways to condense it, but in vain; and when I had a mind to 
divert strangers or friends, I have frequently taken one of these 
bladders and pricked a hole therein with a pin, and compressing 
gently the bladder near the flame of a candle till it once took 
fire, it would then continue flaming until all the spirit was 
compressed out of the bladder, which was the more surprising 
because no one could discern any difference in appearance 
between these bladders and those filled with common air/' 

What may we deduce from this extract ? 

That the English race was slow in paying attention to the 
results of the chemical researches of the Arabian and Latin 
races, for here we have a definite record that the "inflammable 
air" (about 1688) was a novelty to all the English scientists. 
Probably there was no book in England that dealt with the 
learning of the alchemists. 

But did not the English make the first practical use of this 
knowledge of Gas? 

Yes. Murdoch erected Gas-works in Cornwall, in 1792. Bir' 
ingham and other cities were lighted early in the nineteenth 
century. Moscow did not obtain commercial Gas until 1866. 

Describe t he modern Gas- Works. 

The most notable construction is the Gas-holder. This is the 
reservoir for the supply. It is a vast tank upside down. Its 
sides are in water, and as the Gas enters, the tank's top rises up, 
sometimes with telescopic sections, enlarging as it rises. At dark 
the tank towers high, and sinks as the Gas escapes all night into 
the service pipes. There may be several Gas-holders, according 
to the consumption in the area covered by the Company. But 
the holders are made very large, and often there is but one. 

What is the Gas Retort? 

It is one of the ovens set over the fire. A furnace has four 



340 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




Fig. 124. APPARATUS FOR ILLUSTRATING THE MANUFACTURE OF 

ILLUMINATING GAS. 

brick tubes or ovens, usually flat on the bottom and circular 
overhead. In these tubes, nine feet long, the coal is baked or 
roasted until it gives off all its vapor. 

What is Coke? 

It is the coal after it has been thus baked. 

Where does the Vapor or Gas go? 

It rises in an ascension pipe leading out of each retort. The 
ascension pipes unite above and pass in a tortuous way over a 
hydraulic main or trench of water, into which tar and other 
heavy matters drop. This main runs to the tar-well. As the 
Gas passes away from the fire and presses forward to get out, 
the pushing from behind is cut away as much as possible, in 
order to obtain a better quality with more time for chemical 
action. 

What is the Scrttbber ? 

This is a purifier for the purpose of removing ammonia com- 
pounds. The object is to give the ammonia the widest oppor- 
tunity to meet water, with which it has a remarkable affinity, 
and to give the hydrogen and carbon, where united, as little 
water as possible. A strong ammonia water is desired as a by- 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 



341 



product. The scrubber is a double coke filter. The Gas goes 
up one side and comes down the other, while sprays of weak 
ammonia water trickle down, attracting the ammonia molecules 
in the Gas that goes by. 

What is the Purifier ? 

It may be a set of trays on which lime, or chemicals (the oxide 
of iron) are exposed. The Gas passes over these trays, and the 
lime attracts the impurities — carbonic acid and sulphur. The 



Fig. 70. 



A. GAR5URETING CHAMBER 

C.Cofti Chamber 
HHot Air Chambir v 
G. Gas Ft king Chamber 
R Thermal Storage, 

5. 5lJPERHEATf R 




Fig. 125. THE ROSE-HASTINGS COAL-GAS APPARATUS. 

cleansing apparatus often adds components to the Gas. 

What is the course, from Coal to Gas ? 

Soft Coal goes into the ovens or retorts. The Gas rises into 
the condensers and the tar runs out. From this tar, with other 
chemicals, the aniline dyes are made. The Gas goes to the 
scrubber, to the exhauster (which stops the pressure), to the 
purifier, to the meter, to the Gas-holder. 



342 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



How does the House-Meter work ? 

If it is a dry meter, which is probable, the pipe from the street 
enters the first or bottom of two leather bellows or measures. 
This bellows rises until it opens a valve in the upper bellows, 
when it collapses, and the upper bellows fills. Then the process 
begins once more. The bellows as it collapses, moves a steel 
arm. This arm is on a vertical shaft that starts a train of 
wheels. Every five bellowsfuls make two cubic feet of gas, and 
the wheel represented by the top hand on the outside dial of 
the meter makes one revolution. The top hand is called the test 
hand, and it should stand still all day, or your meter records 
the escape of Gas. 




Fig. 126. APPARATUS FOR GAS ANALYSIS. 

How nearly accurate is this Meter? 

It may run fifteen per cent, fast or slow. The cities have 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 343 

inspection-departments, and if a householder believes his meter 
is fast, he may deposit a fee — say $2. 50 — and his meter must 
then be taken to the city hall by the Gas Company. If it be 
fast, his fee is returned to him, a rebate is collected from the 
Gas Company, covering several months past, and a correct 
meter is put in his house. But, if his meter prove to be slow, his 
fee is not returned, nor is his slow meter. Meters are tested with 
air, at the pressure of Gas. We illustrate the apparatus for the 
inspection and testing of the Gas itself. 

Describe the Pintsch Light. 

By means of this device railway and street cars are illuminated. 
The system was invented by Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, who made 
a Gas from Petroleum that could be compressed like air, with- 
out condensation into a permanent liquid. City Gas, from coal, 
cannot be thus stored. Gas works for making Pintsch Gas are 
established in all the large cities of the world. The process is 
not unlike that already described, the only great difference lying 
in the use of oil instead of coal. After the vapor rises from the 
retort, it is cleansed of tar, sulphur, and the heavy hydro-car- 
bons in the same way, the last purifier being oxide of iron. It 
is put into the Gas-mains under a pressure of fifteen atmos- 
pheres, and these mains lead to the depots whence the passenger 
trains take their departure. Under each passenger car that has 
Pintsch Gas Light is a long cylinder, like the air-brake cham- 
bers. This is charged from the Compressed-Gas pipe. On the 
way from the cylinder to the car-lamp, the Gas is expanded 
until the pressure is only a few ounces to the square inch. Thus 
we ride in a railway car that is lighted by Gas, and the Gas 
never or rarely gives out during the journey, however long. 
About seventy railway companies use the Pintsch system. It has 
also been applied to cable street cars. 

What great thing followed the finding of Gas Wells? 

About 1884, the city of Pittsburg, the largest producer of iron, 
steel and glass in the United States, succeeded in using gas 
from the wells for all of the manufacturing purposes save the 
iron smelting, and the pall of smoke that had covered the city 
passed away. The Gas-field extended rapidly westward into 



344 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Ohio and Indiana. The greatest excitement and speculation 
attended the discovery of the supplies of Gas under Findlay, O. 
Pipes were laid to Toledo and further on to Detroit, where many 
thousand residences were served with Fuel Gas the first year. 
Indianapolis, Ind., was thus heated for several years before the 
pipes reached Chicago. At Chicago, the pipes were carried only 
into the south side of the city. The effect on the price of coal 
was to cheapen it, but the Gas-wells failed to keep up their 
pressure, and at the same time the price of coal advanced. But 
the fact that so many persons in five States were long served 
with fuel from the interior of the earth, must remain one of the 
most striking episodes of history. 

What is Coal? 

It is a fossil fuel — largely carbon — the result of baking or 
roasting forests, or forest-growth under coverings of clay and 
water with great heat, such as the internal fires of the earth. 
The wood, grass, leaves and some earthy metals are compressed 
into a formless mass, usually black. It is said that there are in 
certain parts of the world evidences of the growth of thirty 
forests on top of one another, forming that many strata or 
layers of Coal. 

There are two kinds of Coal? 

Yes, hard and soft. The hard Coal is called Anthracite, from 
the Greek name for Coal. The soft is called Bituminous, but 
there is no Bitumen (Asphalt) in it. 

WJien we burn Coal y what Elements remain imbumed i7i the 
ashes ? 

Mainly sand, clay, iron and lime, being silicon, aluminium, 
iron oxide and calcium. There are small quantities of mag- 
nesium, potassium, sulphur and phosphorus, with hydrogen. 

What become of the Ashes of a great city ? 

They are solid, incompressible, and gradually lift the site. 
They are the main item in the debris of cities. Ancient cities 
are found to have accumulated as much as eighty feet of earth 
in this manner. The centre of Chicago is now ten feet higher 
than the site on which Fort Dearborn was built. The pavement 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 3 45 

of the time of the great fire, lies about eighteen inches below the 
present streets. 

Where is the Anthracite Coal found? 

There are two basins in Pennsylvania. Other parts of the 
world furnish it, and it is called " Stone Coal" in Great Britain. 
When Coal is broken for household use, the English call it 
" Coals. " The French and other Latin races call it Carbon — 
the French say Charbon de terre, that is, Carbon of the earth. 
Hard Coal is practically quarried. Soft Coal is tunneled for, 
and dug out of the earth with much more discomfort. 

Anthracite was not thought to be combustible at first? 

No. As late as 1812, of nine wagons of Anthracite Coal 
hauled to Philadelphia, only two could be sold at cost of trans- 
portation. The rest was given away, with difficulty. The per- 
sons who bought the Coal could not set it on fire, and threatened 
prosecution on criminal charges. This was one hundred years 
after the making of bar iron in America. It is now regarded as 
the best solid fuel that has been discovered. The ownership of 
the Anthracite mines, together with the high esteem in which 
the fuel is held, has given rise to a fuel monopoly. The failure 
of the Gas-wells has strengthened the monopoly. 

What is a Coal-Breaker ? 

It is a terraced building in the Anthracite region. It rises 
over the mouth of a Coal-mine, and its lowest terrace is a shed 
for the loading of railway cars. It takes its name from the 
machine by which Coal is broken into the various sizes of 
"egg" "range," " chestnut" and "pea." 

Where is this Breaking Machine ? 

At the top of the building. The car of Coal rises from the 
shaft with a miner's metal check hanging to it. The weigh-boss 
credits the miner with the amount in the car. The car is 
dumped on a slanting screen with bars wide apart. Under the 
screen is an iron platform, which receives the screened Coal. 
This platform also slants, so that the Coal works out from 
under the screen. Here men with picks examine the big pieces 
of coal, to find slate, and knock it off. The platform gradually 



346 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

slides the Coal into a hopper. Underneath are the rolls with 
steel teeth — the breakers. With disagreeable noise, the teeth 
crunch the Coal and send the broken pieces in a chute to 
the revolving screen or separator. This separator throws the 
various sizes into their own chutes. But there is slate in the 
Coal, and, while it goes down the chutes, boys in rows, under 
the sharp watch of a superintendent, pick the pieces of slate out 
of the Coal. They grow very expert in eye and touch. The 
refuse picked out is called culm, and this rises in mountains 
outside the breakers. The process of breaking, rebreaking, 
picking and washing, varies with necessity or inclination, but in 
a mine of good Coal is usually as simple as has been described. 

What is the Mine Shaft ? 

A four-sectioned well, in which the ascending and descending 
cars occupy two parts, the ventilating shaft a third part, and an 
escape-shaft the fourth part. The cages go up and down 2,000 
feet a minute. 

What are the Gang- Ways ? 

These are the tunnels leading from the shaft to the places 
where the miners are at work. Rails are laid in the gang-ways, 
and the Coal-cars run on these rails. The gang-ways are well- 
timbered. 

What are the Air- Ways f 

These are separate tunnels running parallel with the gang- 
ways, by which air is sucked from the furthermost chamber of 
the mine. The gang-ways connect by cross-cuts with the air- 
ways. 

Describe the ventilation of a Mine. 

The Anthracite miner has the advantage of plenty of Coal, 
with " pockets" sometimes sixty feet deep. But gas and 
" damps" are his menace. To make the mine safe, a circulation 
of air must be maintained. At the top of the ventilating shaft, 
an exhaust-fan sucks air out of the ventilating tunnels. The 
fresh air goes down the car shaft and into the gang-ways. It 
follows that all cross-cuts must have doors, The boys who open 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 34? 

and close these doors are called " door-tenders" and " trappers." 
The trappers in Scotland used to work eighteen hours a day. 

What is the "Breast" in the Coal-rnine ? 

The €t breast " or " face " of the Coal is the open part of the 
vein, against which the miner works. He drills holes in the 
Coal, as if it were rock, puts in dynamite cartridges, makes the 
blast, and then sets the " laborer " or helper filling the car. 
The driver carries out the Coal, a mule pulling the car. 

Suppose the Coal-vein slants downward? 

The gangway from the shaft then approaches this slanting 
vein. The miner makes a chute upward at the slant of the vein, 
exposing its face. He then works in this chute, and the Coal 
tumbles downward to the car in the gang-way. When the vein 
has been worked up to the old level, the main shaft of the mine 
is sunk still lower, and another gangway goes out still further 
under the descending vein. 

What is the order of learning the trade of Coalmining ? 

As a boy, the miner picks slate. Then he goes into the mine 
and tends door. Then he drives cars. Then he becomes a 
"laborer," helping the miner. At last, he drills the holes and 
fires the shot. 

How does Soft Coal Mining differ ? 

The miners of say 3 Illinois, have only thin veins, and cannot 
use dynamite satisfactorily. There is more danger from cave- 
ins. There are no chambers, and the miner must often stoop 
over. Water is a constant menace. In soft Coal mines, there 
are no pillars left. In Pennsylvania it is said that 40 per cent, 
of the Coal is thus used for support. 

How much Anthracite is in sight ? 

The experts vary in their estimates. From ten to twenty- 
five billion tons are said to remain. The output is forty million 
tons. The Anthracite Basin covers 475 square miles. No soft 
Coal is present. No Anthracite Coal is found in the regions of 
soft Coal, which extend nearly all over the rest of the United 
States. The Anthracite vein is not less than three feet thick. It 
may swell to sixty feet. It dips to 3,000 feet below the surface 
of the earth. 



348 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

How is a Coal Field placed, geologically ? 

First, there may be a bed of clay, filled with fossils that were 
once the roots of large trees. Then comes the vein of Coal. 
On top of this lies the roof, a slatey clay, with leaves, stems, 
fruits, shells, pebbles and all the sediment that would gather at 
the bottom of water. Sometimes trees are imbedded in the 
lower clay, while their trunks run through the coal vein. 

Describe the celebrated cliff on the Bay of Fundy, in Nova 
Scotia f 

Here the water has laid bare the side of a cliff hundreds of 
feet high on the southern shore. The layers of the cliff are thus 
exposed, and they are composed of Coal, clay, grit and shale. 
Erect trees, in fossil state, are seen on the face of the cliff, and 
series of these stand, one above the other, actually showing the 
growth and destruction of one forest after another. 

What has happened to Coal geologically ? 

Study of the carboniferous strata of the earth leads us to 
believe that a soil was made ; a forest of fern-trees and ever- 
greens grew ; water and mud destroyed it, or killed it ; heat or 
fermentation with pressure condensed the vegetation into Coal ; 
the surface of the earth was again heaved above water ; a forest 
grew ; and so on some thirty times. The climate was hot, 
everywhere. This is the history of the carboniferous era. How 
much of the heat and pressure was from the inner fires of the 
earth, how much was chemical foment and top weight, are 
variously theorized. 

What Animal Life existed in the Carbon forests? 

Not much, for the reason that the earth was still in groups of 
islands. There were many fishes, snails and small shell-fish. 
There were no birds. A sort of crocodile lived, and amphibious 
creatures like the lizards were numerous. Of the ferns and 
pines about three hundred and thirty species are found in the 
true Coal-veins of Great Britian. The very last stratum of 
earth, now making, only shows about two hundred and twenty 
species. Five lower formations, all above the Coal, are com- 
paratively poor in vegetable growth. 



LIGHT AND HE A T. 349 

What do the Irish peat-bogs show ? 

Submerged trees are found, which have been dyed black with 
iron compounds. The wood is sound and hard, and can be 
used as timber. The next stage toward Coal, is when the peat 
or the tree turns to lignite, or brown Coal, soft, easily split, 
burning to a large residue of white ash. Jet is a product of 
lignite, and is very light. Soft Coal is the next stage. Anthra- 
cite is the coal which, under pressure has been li cupelled " in the 
hottest fires, or heated the most chemically, with no opportunity 
of reaching the air. 

What other Fuel do we possess ? 

The Wood that has not been turned to Coal, or Gas, or Oil. 
This was once the chief fuel of the Eastern States. Where the 
forests were to be cleared, the pioneers could not wait, and even 
burned the logs in great piles, with enormous waste. Wood 
makes a hot but smoky fire. 

What is Charcoal ? 

Charred Wood. Great pyramids are built of cut Wood, and 
these pyramids are covered with earth. The pile is then set on 
fire, and burns with insufficient air, turning the heap to Char- 
coal. Charcoal is the great fuel in hot countries like Mexico. 
It is used in carbonizing iron into steel. It is a powerful disin- 
fectant. It is used in making gunpowder. Wherever heat 
without smoke is required, as in tailors' irons, etc., Charcoal is 
used. It is always for sale at city wood-yards. 

Does Electricity furnish Heat? 

Yes. There are Electric Kitchens at the pure food fairs, and 
we have in the chapter on Electricity, noted the practical appli- 
cation of Electric heat to the warming of railway cars. 






T+TftT< 

*S * ce# jl 




■*-* 



What is Ice? 

Water, from which half the heat has been taken. The 
molecules, in arranging themselves anew, lose a part of their 
weight, gain in size, and float on the water, with a portion of 
the Ice mass projecting from the water. As this portion is 
small, when one sees a gigantic iceberg in the water, he may 
calculate the mass that is submerged, as the floating Ice in our 
pitcher is the same sort of an iceberg, on a smaller scale. 

How do we make use of Ice ? 

We inclose it in a box or chamber, and it rapidly absorbs heat 
from the air, reducing the temperature to a point at which 
decay in other things is arrested. In order to melt, Ice must 
absorb the exact amount of heat that the water lost when it 
froze. Agassiz has written the most interesting of essays on the 
physical process by which a block of Ice melts, and how the 
globule of water forces its way through the block of Ice. 

How do we usually obtain our Ice ? 

Great houses are constructed at the borders of our small 
lakes, and blocks of Ice are cut and piled in layers of sawdust. 
The machinery for storing and unloading, yearly improves. This 
Ice is carried to the cities in train-loads, and this is the product 
that is loaded into the refrigerator cars that now form so large 
a part of our freight rolling stock. 

Why did Ice-making begin as an industry ? 

Because in very warm climates the natural Ice melted in long 



ICE. 351 

transit by rail. Again, even in cold climates, the Ice-harvesters 
leagued together and put prices to a point that justified a 
chemical product. Artificial Ice has the advantages of purity 
and solidity, the latter quality making it more efficient as an 
absorbant of heat. 

How did the Artificial or Chemical Refrigeration begin ? 

The packing-houses of the north found that they could econo- 
mize by building a cold room in which pipes filled with brine 
absorbed heat. Here the temperature was more equable, the 
air was dryer, and the labor of carrying Ice and washing it was 
omitted. 

What was the principle of making Ice? 

li Ice takes up heat, some other substance could be found that 
would take up heat faster. In this way water could be frozen 
by having this substance absorb heat from the water. Hundreds 
of such substances were at once suggested, but commercially, 
ammonia, a gas compressed to liquid, was accepted. 

Describe an Ice Factory. 

The plant includes heavy machinery — steam boiler, engines, 
pumps, condensers, pipes and tanks, but the process is simple. 
The freezing apparatus is a tank of salt-water, which itself does 
not freeze. Through this brine run pipes carrying ammonia, 
which is expanding rapidly into gas, and withdrawing heat from 
the brine as it goes through the pipes that are submerged in 
the brine. 

So the Brine gets very cold ? 

Yes. At zero and below it does not freeze. But closed cans 
holding pure water, freeze when put in trie brine. 

How large is the Brine Tank ? 

About fifty feet long, twenty feet wide and four feet deep. It 
sets in the floor, and is covered when the cans are freezing. 
Cans, holding distilled water, are set in rows across the tank, 
and are not allowed to rest on the bottom of the tank. These 
cans usually measure forty-four by twenty-two by eleven inches 
in size. They are filled with great care, so as to exclude 



352 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



bubbles of air. The tank is covered up. The ammonia-pipes 
run through the brine between each row of cans. The water 
in the can freezes solidly in less than three days. 

Hoiv is the Can of Ice handled? 

A traveling crane lifts the can, tilts it upside down, carries it 
to an inclined plane, and sets it under a stream of warm water. 
The Ice slides out of the warm can, and down the incline to the 
ice-house. A restaurant-keeper can have his lobster or fish 
hung in the can before it is frozen, and it comes out surrounded 
by pure Ice. 





Fig. 127. ICE-MAKING MACHINE. 



ICE. 353 

Now for the Ice Machinery ? 

This is the engine or pump which keeps the ammonia in 
circulation. One stroke of the piston sucks in a quantity of 
ammonia as a gas ; the same stroke presses another cylinder-full 
into a liquid. This liquid has suddenly lost a vast amount of 
heat under pressure. Now turn the liquid into the pipes that 
go through the brine and it will expand into a gas again, but 
not until it has absorbed all the heat that it lost. This heat it 
can get nowhere but in the brine, and the brine must get what 
it can out of the water-cans, and the water in the cans freezes. 
The brine is usually kept at eighteen degrees below zero. When 
the ammonia has expanded into gas again, it is ready to go back 
in the circuit to the piston, which gives it another squeeze. 
Mechanical, power may be aided by cold condensation of the gas. 

What establishments must have freezing plants of this 
order ? 

All breweries, packing-houses, cold-storage warehouses for 
fruit, meat, etc. Great hotels and kitchens may be thus served. 
Pleasure-houses can be cooled. There are large store-rooms in 
the great cities where the hoar-frost seldom or never leaves the 
pipes that surround the room, and even covers the ceiling and 
walls with its crystals. 

Do the tunnelers use this system ? 

Yes. The ammonia pump may be set at the mouth of the 
shaft, and brine pipes may be sent into the tunnel. Pipes may 
be driven into quicksand and the entire cylinder will freeze so 
that it may be cut out like rock. A difficult quicksand pit in 
the four-mile water tunnel at Chicago was thus mined. 




Fig. 128. COTTON, PROM FIELD TO FACTORY. 







Jfiu, Clothes, Etc. 




«»♦ 



Where do our Clothes, our Bedding, and our Carpets, Curtains 
and Hangings come from ? 

They are made from Linen, Woolen, Cotton and Silk. On 
each of these materials and the processes of using them, great 
libraries exist. 




Fig. 129. PRE-HISTORIC FLAX CLOTH, FROM A LAKE DWELLING. 

With what did Man first Clothe himself? 

With the skins of beasts. From these skins it might be that 
Woolen garments evolved. But Linen (flax) Cloth is found as 
a relic of the stone age, and is therefore prehistoric. Cotton 
Cloth is found in the graveyards of An£on, in Peru, which are 
pre-historic. 

What is probably our oldest tradition on this subject ? 
Lenormant states that the Jerusalem Talmud attributes the 

355 



356 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

making of Cloth to Naamah, the daughter of Lamech, and 
sister of Tubal-Cain. Thus the Hebrews held to a tradition 
that the great, great, great, great, great grand-daughter of Adam 
first spun the Wool of the flocks and wove the thread into 
Cloth. All our industrial arts are attributed to the family of 
Cain, the murderer, to which Naamah (meaning pleasant) 
belonged. 

What is Silk? 

Silk is the gummy, fibrous exudation of a worm, and resembles 
hair and horn in its chemical structure — that is, it is made of the 
protoplasm Elements — hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon 
(See Life and Chemistry). The process of turning the exuda- 




Fig. 130. SILK FIBRES ON THE MICROSCOPIC SLIDE. 

tions of the silk-worm into Cloth was a secret of the Chinese for 
ages. In China, the word for Silk was See. The western nations 
called it Seer. Accordingly, they called China the Land of 
Silk, or Seres. The Greeks said Sericon for Silk, the Romans, 
Sericum, and the French Sole, (probably from Soi, the native 
name in Corea). For ages, the Europeans wore Silk without 
knowing what it was made of, the belief being general that the 
Cloth came directly from the mulberry tree. In the time of 
Henry VIII, of England, if a man's wife wore a Silk gown, he 
must furnish a war-horse for the King. 



CLOTHES, ETC. 



357 



How does the Worm produce Silk ? 

By making a cocoon in which to lie until nature transforms 
the worm into a moth. Silk could be made from all cocoons of 
all insects of that order, and from the exudations of all insects 
that construct webs or spin " gossamer. " The Silk-making 
insect of commerce is the bombyx mori, a mulberry-feeding 
moth. The worm, before it becomes a moth, and at its birth, 
begins eating mulberry leaves, and consumes double its weight 
daily. In five weeks it has grown three inches long, but only 
slightly larger in girth than a lead-pencil. 

How does the Worm make the Cocoon ? 

It ejects the gum called Silk from two tubes near its mouth. 
The two lines join as soon as they touch each 
other and form the natural strand, sticking 
together because they are wet. The line ad- 
heres to the branch which it first touched, 
and the worm then either turns over and over, 
or with its very flexible mouth or proboscis, 
throws the line in a circle, forming the walls 
of the cocoon. Gradually a chamber is made, 
with the worm inside still turning over and 
over, and gradually squeezing its body into 
smaller compass. It seems to be nearly dead 
when its work is ended. 

Does the Moth hatch out ? 

No. At the end of about the eighth day, 
the worm is killed by the Silk-makers, be- 
cause, in issuing from its habitation, the 
moth would injure the cocoon. The Silk- 
makers expose the cocoons to steady sunshine 
or other heat, and the worm dies. 

Is the Cocoon all merchantable Silk ? 

Yes. A part of it will be reeled off into 
first-class goods. The remainder will be carded into spun 
Silk, an inferior grade. There are four thousand yards of 




Fig. 132. SILK -SE- 
CRETING APPA- 
RATUS IN THE 
WORM. 



35S 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



the double line. Of this length not more than seven hundred 




Fig. 133. APPARATUS FOR STIFLING THE SILK WORM. 

yards are likely to come off on the reel. The rest is too fine or 
sticky to be handled by reeling. 

How are the Cocoons reeled? 

From six to ten of the cocoons are put in a basin of hot soft 
water. With a whisk broom or similar implement, they are 
submerged, and the end of the thread sticks to the broom. All 
the ends of the cocoons are collected, passed together through 
a guide-eye, and tied to the bar of a large reel that is placed far 
enough away to assure the drying of the filaments in passing 
through the air. The French call the reeling-establishments 
" filatures." The reel is slowly turned and the operator watches 
the water, to see that all the cocoons keep bobbing, as otherwise 
he would have no knowledge that a thread had broken in the 
strand. An expert can reel five ounces in ten hours. When a 
single thread breaks it is mended by sticking the ends together. 
If the entire strand break, a knot must be made. When enough 



CLOTHES, ETC. 359 

Silk has been reeled to make a skein, it is removed from the reel, 
dried, and packed in " books" of from five to ten pounds. 
These books are packed into bales of one hundred and thirty- 
three and one-third pounds. This is raw Silk. The rest of the 
cocoon is shipped as waste Silk. 

How much of this Silk material comes to America? 

It is not unusual for our Silk manufacturers to import three 
hundred thousand or four hundred thousand pounds of cocoons, 
eight million pounds of reeled Silk (at three or four dollars a 
pound), and a million pounds of waste. 

What is done with the raw Silk ? 

It is now in skeins of thread in which there are from six to ten 
filaments. The skeins are soaked in warm soap-suds, and then 
hung on a reel which is called a swift. From the swift the Silk 
goes on a bobbin that moves as a boy winds his kite-string, so 
that the Silk travels the long way of the bobbin. This imparts 
some lustre to the thread. Next is the first spinning-frame, where 
the thread gets the first twist it has received. The worm made a 
double thread; the reeler made a thread from six to ten of these 
double threads. Now it is finished, because otherwise, in the 
cleaning all these filaments might come apart and make floss. 
The spindle that twists the thread revolves at a speed of ten 
thousand revolutions a minute. 

What is all this Silk process called? 

It is called "throwing," and the operators are known as 
" throwsters/' Next the thread is cleaned by running from one 
bobbin to another, through a slit that will scrape off any lump 
or nib. Now the raw Silk thread is ready to be doubled, or made 
stronger and larger. Imagine now that the bobbins of Silk are 
Silk cocoons, and that the reeling begin anew, save that the reel 
is another bobbin, for the thread is dry and does not need a reel. 
As each thread leaves its bobbin to join the cable, it passes 
through a "faller," which falls down and stops the machine if its 
thread breaks. Now the doubled or tripled thread is twisted 
on a spinning-frame, and as it leaves the frame, is wound again 
on flying bobbins. The Silk-throwster is at liberty to vary his 
filaments, strands and twists, to please his own ideas of either 



360 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



worth or trade, and an ordinary three-cord sewing silk thread 
may be composed of nearly two hundred of the original Silk- 
worm filaments. It is now ready for the dyer. 

What peculiarity has Silk? 

It is a remarkable absorbant of water, and will take up from 




Fig. 134. CONDITIONING APPARATUS. 



g 



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CO 
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CO 

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CLOTHES, ETC 361 

twenty to thirty per cent, without feeling damp. As it is sold 
by the pound, its <€ condition" is ascertained at " conditioning 
houses/' which issue certificates of condition to accompany the 
goods. The Silk is dried and weighed. 

What is the Serigraph ? 

An ingenious American invention, now used all over the world, 
by which the grade of a Silk thread is graphically registered. 
The Silk is wound from one reel to another, but the second reel 
is three percent, larger and thus stretches or strains the thread. 
The thread goes over an agate hook that is fastened to a pendu- 
lum. The movement of the pendulum indicates the strain on the 
thread, guides a pencil on a revolving cylinder of paper, and 
by wave-lines traces the history of the thread as it weat by. By 
comparing these records, the comparative qualities of various 
threads become accurately known before they are subjected to 
wear of any other kind. 

Does the raw Silk shine ? 

No. Up to this point it is dull in color and harsh to the touch. 
It must be u scoured " — that is, nearly boiled and then bleached. 
A coating of gum covers the true fibre and this is to be removed, 
leaving the light to play between the original, single filaments 
that came from each side of the worm's mouth or spinneret. (See 
Interference, in chapter on Spectroscope.) About three hundred 
pounds of thrown Silk are put in two hundred gallons of hot 
water, with sixty pounds of powdered soap. Here the hanks 
hang on rods and are turned in the soap-suds. Another "boil- 
ing" in a linen bag, with less soap in the water follows, when 
the hanks are whirled dry in a centrifugal machine. (See Sugar, 
also Milk.) If the Silk is to be white, it now goes in a closed 
chamber, where it remains in the fumes of sulphurous acid. 
After bleaching, it is washed in cold water. From twenty-five 
to thirty-one per cent, in weight has been lost. 

I should like to know about Mourning Crape. 

This most peculiar product of the loom is woven from Silk 
that has not been scoured. The black dye and the gum unite 
in holding the light. The waves are given to the material after 



362 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

both spinning and weaving, by various processes that are 
jealously kept secret, often by means of finishing by one secret 
method, in one town, what was begun by another secret method 
in another town. The word crape is the same as crisp. The 
light falling into the little furrows of black, is almost completely 
swallowed up, and thus black crape becomes probably the black- 
est thing we have. The effect on the visual senses is so notable 
that many persons are at once deeply depressed by the mere 
sight of black crape. 

What remarkable thing followed in the progress of Dyeing 
Silks? 

The manufacturers desired to get back in weight what was 
lost by scouring. The readiness of Silk to unite with chemicals 
opened a wide field for this enterprise, and at last the dyers have 
been able to so use the metal or Element, tin, as to add forty 
ounces to the pound of scoured Silk, one hundred and twenty 
ounces to the pound of Silk dyed in the gum, or unscoured (called 
souples), and one hundred and fifty to spun (waste) Silk. This 
practice began with the metallic " heavy black Silk " which the 
housewife dons on great days, and ended with the white Silk 
handkerchiefs, which twenty years ago were so soft and to-day 
are so greatly changed in feel. 

I hear of Artificial Silk. 

Yes. It is but logical that the chemists, having a pure carbon 
compound (see Chemistry) to deal with, should proceed to satis- 
factory results. In the chapter on Compressed Air, we have 
noted the means by which artificial Silk-like filaments are pro- 
jected from small tubes. Dr. Lehner, one of the many experi- 
menters, obtained a cellulose solution free of explosive nitre and 
sufficiently viscous (or ropy) to be drawn out in filaments as 
fine as the Silk worm's. These are gathered and reeled into 
thread, the thread into yarn, and the yarn is woven into cloth. 
The mulberry forests and worm-hatcheries, with their problems 
of climate and disease, are omitted, and old rags, wood-pulp, 
and acids take their place. 

What is the quality of this Artificial Silk? 

About sixty to seventy per cent, as good as the best, real 






CLOTHES, ETC 363 

scoured Silk woven stuffs. An English conditioning official cer- 
tifies, first, that it is artificial; that it is about seventy per cent, as 
strong and flexible as real silk; that it is much evener in texture; 
that it takes the dye with perfect brilliancy and evenness, and 
that this applies to all shades of color. 

What was the Mulberry speculation ? 

About 1837, four of the New England States were giving 
bounties on American-made Silk, and Congress debated the sub- 
ject of national aid. In 1838, mulberry trees sold for ten dollars 
each. In 1839, the trees sold at three cents each, and most of 
the nurseries were abandoned. The Silk industry languished for 
many years thereafter, while the French producers remained 
masters of the situation. 

What are the peculiarities of the Silk Worm ? 

The common bombyx mori has been in the hands of man for 
many thousand years, and, under this domestication, has become 
an obedient but unhealthy creature. After hatching, it asks 
only for food and a place in which to wind its cocoon. But this 
subserviency to the will of man has made it the easy prey of 
parasites, and at times the existence of all the French worms has 
been threatened. It was one of the triumphs of Dr. Pasteur, 
of Paris, that he discovered the cause and the possible preven- 
tion of the greatest danger that ever confronted the manufac- 
turers of the Mediterranean countries. There are very many 
Silk-worms other than the bombyx mori, but less than ten kinds 
have been successfully bred for commerce. 

What is Satin ? 

Satin is, first of all, a Silk fabric, because of the sheen of the 
Silk filaments. If a scoured thread be laid across the light, it 
will shine at its best. In a loom the threads are crossed, as the 
splints are crossed in a basket. If we take four yards of carpet 
a yard wide, there are threads four yards long, running the long 
way. This is the warp. The threads running across the car- 
pet are the woof, or weft. The weaver calls the whole carpet the 
web. Of course, it is the short threads that are put through 
the long ones — that is, shuttles carry the tvoof across the carpet. 
Suppose, instead of carpet, we are weaving Satin. Our effort 




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CLOTHES, ETC. 365 

now will be to keep the warp on the under side, and let long 
stretches of the woo/shine in the light, without letting the warp 
cross them and break the light. To do this, only every seven- 
teenth warp-thread is raised — that is, as the woof-shuttle goes 
through the warp-threads while they are spread apart for that 
passage, 940 warp threads will be below and only about 60 
above — only just enough to hold the woof in place. But a 
different warp-thread rises for this upper service every time. At 
the edge of the Satin, called the selvedge, where strength is 
necessary, you may see the regular weaving. In Satin, the light 
effects, from precisely the same material, are astonishingly 
different. Satin dresses and linings have two advantages over 
all other Cloths. They do not harbor dust, and they offer little 
friction. 

Did all the Chinese once use Silk ? 

Probably. Ancient history shows that the garment was held 
as an article of great value. The Chinese wore the garments 
of their ancestors, generation on generation. 

How generally was Silk worn in Europe f 

About the middle of the fourteenth century, one thousand 
nobles of Genoa walked in a public procession, all clad in Silken 
robes. Our theatres, in their plays of the ancien regime (time 
of Louis XV. or earlier) show the costumes of the upper classes. 
Beside coat and vest of Silk, the culottes, or breeches, were also 
of Silk, usually white. The peasants, who wore longer cover- 
ings on their legs, were thus sans (without) culottes.. They grew 
proud of the designation, and with the French Revolution there 
disappeared the Silken wear which had distinguished the upper 
classes. 

What Silken Garment has attracted public notice in recent 
times ? 

The skirt of the female dancer. In the skirt dance, the volum- 
inous folds of a silken fabric are displayed by movements of the 
hands, and stereoscopic pictures are often thrown on the moving 
disk of silk which surrounds the dancer. It is not uncommon 
to employ 500 yards of silk in a single skirt, which does not then 



366 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



appear u full " on the wearer. To develop this fabric toward 
the full possibilities of the silken fibre, for theatrical purposes, 
has been the study of managers, and even Mr. Edison's talent 
and advice have been sought. It is said of the women of the 
Greek island of Cos, that they clothed themselves in silken 
garments that were of almost incredible thinness. It is believed 
that the Chinese weavers will be set at work on fabrics for skirt- 
dancers that will be made from the original filament as it leaves 
the silk-worm's mouth, but scoured of one-quarter of its weight. 
In this way a thousand yards of "Cloth " might weigh but a 
few ounces. 

How old is the Loom ? 

The loom for plain weaving is represented in the Egyptian 
monumental paintings and on Greek vases. We have, in Records 
of the Pasty vol. 3, p. 151, the following, where the poet bewails 
the misery of the "little laborer:" " The weaver, inside the 




Fig. 137. LOOM 500 YEARS B. C, SHOWING BEAM, WITH THREADS HANGING 
OPEN— FROM A GREEK VASE— PENELOPE. 



houses, is more wretched than a woman ; his knees are at the 
place of his heart ; he has not tasted the air. Should he have 



CLOTHES, ETC. 



367 



done but a little in a day, of his weaving, he is dragged as a lily 
in a pool. He gives bread to the porter at the door that he may 
be allowed to see the light. " This poem may be 5,000 years old. 

How did the Loom evolve ? 

The frame first held only the warp, which possibly hung be- 
tween two trees. Then it was placed vertically before the weaver 
on a frame, and the Turks still prefer to make their often beau- 
tiful and always valuable and durable woolen fabrics in this 
manner. A Turkish weaver stitching with needlefuls of his 



rflUHKfli, 




Fig. my 2 . TURKISH WOMEN WEAVING RUGS. 



various woofs on a frame of ivarp, has long been a familiar 
spectacle, furnishing an instructive method of advertising in the 
city store windows of America. 

Mention an ancient reference to Weaving. 

In the Book of Job: " My days are swifter than a weaver's 
shuttle" — chapter 7, verse 6. This is the Protestant version. 
The Catholic version reads, probably with more accuracy : " My 



368 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the 
weaver." The Desert of Gobi or Jobi, and the Lake of Lob in 
Turkestanese Asia, are possibly connected with Job. We may 
attribute almost the highest antiquity to the Book of Job. 

How recently did the Loom leave the houses of the people and 
retire to the factories ? 

Many of our fathers and all our grandfathers can recall the 
time when every hamlet, however small, possessed at least one 




Fig. 138. LOOM OF AN EAST INDIAN, STILL IN USB. 



loom, where rag carpet was woven. But, since 1840, the Cloths 
used by the people have usually been made far from home, and 
all wise, industrious and frugal inhabitants have found life much 
more easy and comfortable. 

For what inventions in Cloth-Making were the Eighteenth 
and Nineteenth Centuries famous ? 

In 1745, John Kay invented the fly shuttle, whereby, when the 
warp was spread apart into the "shed," the shuttle shot across, 
leaving a trail of woof behind. In Napoleon's time, Jacquard 
invented his wonderful cards, whereby a loom could work on a 
beautiful pattern as rapidly as on plain Cloth. 



I 




"'"'""WMiiZ^ 



CLOTHES, ETC. 369 




Fig. 139. POWER LOOM. 

Tell me about the Jacquard Loom. 

First, the ordinary loom must be more carefully described, 
but, in a few words, the principle of Jacquard's loom was a 
chain of pasteboard cards, each with holes in different places. 
Certain rods would be let through these holes, and other rods 
would be held back or down. This principle has been applied 
to the mechanical musical organs that to-day excite so much 
admiration, and the telegraphers have at last taken advantage 
of the same idea in the scheme of automatic telegraphic trans- 
mission that we have described in the chapter, Electricity. 

What are the main parts of an ordinary, ancient Loom ? 

i. There must be two rollers — the warp beam, on which the 
warp threads are reeled, and the cloth-beam, on which the 
finished cloth is received. 

2. There must be two heddles or healds, which we may liken 
to combs, merely to show that the warp threads pass by them, 
as a comb allows hair to pass by its teeth. Suppose every 
second hair were fastened to a tooth of the comb, and there 
were two combs, similarly established, then, if one comb were 
raised, a " shed " would be formed, through which a thread or 

24 



370 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



cross-hair could be carried. The heddle is not a comb, because 
it is closed at bottom and top, and its slats or threads each has 




Fig. HO. HAND LOOM. 

a hole or eye for the warp to pass through. A treadle or lever 
raises or lowers either heddle, and now one may rise while the 
other sinks or stands still, and vice versa. 

3. There must be a reed, a comb — a thing like the heddles, 
but with a warp between every tooth. Attached to this comb is 
a " way," on which the shuttle, holding and paying out the 
woof can slide. After the throw, or pick, or slide has been 
made, and the shuttle has landed on the other side — always 
with a click — the reed is pulled toward the weaver and the new 
thread is beaten or battened up against the other woof-threads 
that have been thrown across before. Thus, every cross-thread 
of every piece of Cloth or carpet represents not only the careful 
process of making the thread itself (as we have shown in Silk), 
but as it passed across in the loom, the machine was stopped 
while the thread was pounded up against its fellows, and the 
Cloth made firm. 

Are all modem Looms noisy, and why? 

Yes, because the shuttle bearing the spool of thread must be 



CLOTHES, ETC 371 

thrown across through the shed. The shuttle in your sewing 
machine at home makes the same noisy journey. More force 
must be used than is needed for the bare journey, and the noise 
is nature's notification of the change of motion into heat or other 
forms of action. Also, the shuttles must be changed, and as 
they must always be free, so that they can be thrown, with only 
a trail of thread hanging or paying out behind, they rattle and 
make extra noise. Machinery Hall, at the World's Fair of 1893, 
had a noisy section, whose very rumpus seemed to gather sight- 
seers, who for hours watched the ribbons, Cloths and souvenir 
Silk book-marks or badges come from the Jacquard looms. 
Probably the first Jacquard loom ever seen in the West was 
exhibited in the Inter-State Exposition at Chicago in 1875. 

Proceed to these Jacquard Cards. 

It is unnecessary to give the precise action of these cards, for 
they are simplified each decade ; but, by their use, every thread 
of warp may be separately lifted ; although, where a picture on 
a badge has been studied, certain recurring combinations of 
warp can be lifted together in a "leash." But let us suppose 
a score of music — "Home, Sweet Home" — is being portrayed 
on the badge, and the blue thread is to pass across so that it 
will show on the surface of the badge in all the letters of the 
title. Then, in practice, all the warp threads that are to hold 
down blue woof threads will be raised at once, and all these 
warp threads will hang on one rod that goes up into one hole of 
the pasteboard card that at the moment stops over the loom. 
For a small badge a very long chain of cards, nearly all differ- 
ently punched with holes, is necessary, nor is the attendant 
arrangement of colored threads on shuttles, to be thrown at the 
opportune moment, less complex. The Jacquard loom, clicking 
out its always beautiful pictures, with the finest Silks and most 
brilliant fixed colors, justly challenges the astonishment and 
admiration of all who see it, or see its products. The pattern- 
makers, who compose new combinations and make successful 
chains of pattern-cards, necessarily command high rewards, 
according to their ingenuity. 



372 7H£ FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

How was Vclvet y or Velvet Carpet first made? 

There were two warps, one for the velvet (the pile warp), 
which was much longer than the plain warp. That is, there 
were two warp-beams or cylinders to roll the warps on, and one 
cloth beam to hold the finished velvet. At say every third shoot 
or pick of the zvoof across, a shed was made of the upper or 
velvet warp and a wire with a groove running its upper length 
was put across instead of the woof. This wire raised up a row 
of loops ; then two more regular shoots were made and another 
wire was put in. When the wires were needed for use again, 
a knife called a trivet was run along, following the groove in the 
wire, and the loops were cut, forming the pile which we see in 
velvet. In Brussells carpet and " Terry velvet " the loops were 
left uncut. A double-web plush may be woven by running two 
warp-beams or cylinders in connection with the velvet warp- 
beam. Thus the weaver has a cloth-web above and below. By 
attaching the velvet warp, which may of course be a double or 
triple untwisted thread — three threads — from one web to the 
other, the two Cloths thus woven are attached to each other by 
the threads of the velvet warp — no wire being used. Now the 
two Cloths can be cut apart or split, and there is a velvet-pile 
left on what was the inside of each Cloth. But we shall return 
to the subject of carpet-weaving anon. 

How are Chinchillas and other heavy overcoatings made? 

The chinchilla is a small rabbit-like rodent of South America, 
whose fur is used by the natives for wool, and prized by other 
countries for muffs, etc. To secure the appearance of fur on the 
loom, the yarns may be soft and large, there may be several 
warps, and several woofs, and the cutting of the loops may be 
done with knives that leave a furrow behind. Every warp-beam 
or cylinder gives employment to two heddles that lift half and 
depress half the warp-ends or threads. If there are two warp- 
beams, there must' be four heddles, and with heavy yarn, four 
heddles will produce a very heavy double-cloth or overcoating. 
The process of milling and felting, yet to be described, also play 
a most important part in the appearance of heavy and costly 
Cloths. 



CLOTHES, ETC. 3?3 

Then Weaving is not the only way to make Cloth ? 

No. Cloth may be felted or matted together, as in hats. It 
may be looped from one thread, as in knit goods ; or, it may be 
braided, where the warp is looped together without any woof — 
as in our bindings. 

How is Gauze woven ? 

It is a species of braid, but has also a woof thread. In front 
of the two heddles or warp-lifters of an ordinary loom is another 
heddle called a doup. This little heddle catches every second 
warp-end, and twists or turns it, say, to the left, one thread's 
width. The result, after the reed has battened up the woof on 
the web, is as follows : A shed has been formed ; the woof has 
shot through ; the top warp has gone down, looped under the 
bottom warp, and immediately risen again, instead of remaining 
to form the bottom part of the next shed. By this loop, the 
woofs are held further apart, and gauze is the result. In most 
sorts of mesh-work, the starch is the principal thing. The house- 
wife washes her lace window curtains, starches them heavily, 
and dries them on stretchers, thus demonstrating the power of 
the stiff threads to hold the mesh of the lace in place. The 
fisherman spreads his net. 

The variations of Weaving must be infinite in number. 

Yes. With a heddle for each warp-thread, attainable in the 
Jacquard loom ; with devices that change the shuttle as often 
as need be, supplying a different woof each time ; with varia- 
tions of material for upper and under sides ; with even the 
ordinary number of heddles for double Cloths, the variations to 
be attained on the surface of the texture are innumerable, thus 
giving to the weaver not only a school of patience, but a field of 
invention. The lace machines, by hanging warp and woof from 
the same beam, still further enlarge the varieties of mesh that 
may be woven. 

What is Cotton ? 

It is a downy substance, usually white, which surrounds the 
seeds and bursts from the seed-capsule of a low mullein or 
mallow-like herb — in America the Gossypium Barbadcusc. The 
culture of this plant supplanted the culture of indigo in America 



374 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



early in the nineteenth century; and, since 1850, the common- 
wealths that border the Ocean and Gulf have been known as 




Fig. 141. THE COTTON FIBRE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 

Cotton States, and nine million bales, each weighing 500 pounds, 
have come to be considered a fair annual crop. 

What is the history of Cotton ? 

Herodotus, in his description of India, 400 B. C, says the 
people " possess a kind of plant, which, instead of fruit, pro- 
duces wool, of a finer and better quality than that of the sheep ; 
of this the Indians make their Clothes." Columbus found Cot- 
ton growing in America, and it was better than the Indian 
Cotton. Dr. Livingstone found Cotton growing wild in Africa. 
Cotton was grown in the southern parts of ancient Egypt, but 
Linen was the material favored by the priests. In ancient Mexico, 
the down of Cotton and the fur of chinchillas, etc., were woven 
together. In Peru, the mummies of the pre-historic age were 
wrapped in Cotton. All the ancient world, except China — that 
is, Mexico, Egypt and India — had Cotton Cloths that were dyed 
with indigo. 

Was j wt Cotton known hi China ? 

It seems not. Arabian travelers of the ninth century, A. D. 
recount that every one in China was clothed in Silk. The 



CLOTHES, ETC 375 

Tartars introduced Cotton, and now a blue Cotton shirt is the 
outer garment of every Chinaman who is not rich or powerful. 

What did the Spanish Moors do for civilization ? 

They transplanted the Cotton plant, rice, sugar-cane and the 
Silk-worm from the east to Spain in the tenth century, and 
Cotton was woven for sail-cloth and other purposes where 
weight and coarseness were required. But the Christians 
refused to learn at once of the Moslems, and it was long after 
the Crusades that " Cotton wool w was used by the weavers of 
Northern countries. 

What obstacle was in the way of using "Cotton- WooV ? 

It was full of seeds. These were picked out slowly, until an 
American — Eli Whitney — while on a visit to a Southern friend, 
noted the need of a machine to get rid of the seeds, and by 
introducing saws that played between the wires of a fine grating, 
pulled away the wool while the grating held back the seeds — 
thus making the celebrated Cotton-gin, the gin being a corrup- 
tion of engine. 

Were the Cotton-Seeds valuable ? 

They were then thought to be worse than valueless. But, 
with time, Cotton-seed oil and cake have come to be products of 
enormous value. In years of corn famine (as in 1895), tne use °* 
oil-cake for animal-feed was widespread, and, at the great 
packing-houses, both butter and lard are mixed with the oil, and 
thus find a ready market under various trade names that reveal 
the presence of the Cottonseed oil. For animal-feed, the oil- 
cake is pressed after the seeds have been hulled or decorticated. 
We are unable to name any other plentiful substance, once so 
lightly esteemed, that has assumed so much importance as 
Cotton-seed in the commercial world. 

All Cotton must be spun into yarn ? 

Yes. On investigation, you will find that spinning is the lead- 
ing branch of the trade of cloth-making. Spinners develop the 
rarest skill and receive high wages. Spinning machinery is most 
complicated and difficult to manage and tend (or tent.) This 
brings the spindle before us. Next to the ax, knife and bowl, 



376 3 f HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

and before the needle, comes the spindle as an implement of 
mankind. It was originally as it is to-day. Next, it was made 
with a hook or notch (like the crochet-needle) in its point. 
Then in the centre was hung a round stone for a wheel or 
balance. The fibre to be spun was caught by the notch ; the 
left hand receded with the bunch of fibre or wool ; the right 
hand rolled the stone on the knee; the spindle revolved; the 
yarn twisted ; the two hands then wound the made 
yarn on the spindle, and thus the measure of yarn called 
" the spindle " was first established. The famous Cotton 
muslins of India are made from yarn that is spun 
on a bamboo spindle no thicker than a darning-needle, 
weighted with a pellet of clay. The fabrics thus composed, are 
so light that they are not improperly named " woven air." In 
the remote regions of Scotland and Europe as well as in Asia, 
the hand spindle has never been displaced. 

What improvements have been made on the Spindle ? 

None. To make a yarn from a body of short fibres, the sub- 
stance must still be drawn off or toward a revolving point. To 
operate the spindle, however, four things have been accom- 
plished. First, it has been made to revolve faster and more 
continuously, as in the spinning-wheel ; second, the drawing- 
out of the fibre has been given into hands (rollers) of iron ; 
third, flyers have been added; fourth, inasmuch as the same 
wheel might drive more than one spindle, great numbers of 
spindles have been joined in one machine. 

What, then, is so wonderful about Cotton manufacturing 
that it has long taken the labor of weaving out of our house- 
holds? 

It is the union of a number of machines that not only spin the 
yarn, but prepare the fibre for rapid spinning. 

What machines precede the real Spindle? 

i. The opener; 2. The scutcher and lap machine; 3. The 
carding engine; 4. The combing machine; 5. The drawing 
frame; 6. The slubbing frame ; 7. The intermediate and roving 
frames. 



CLOTHES, ETC. 



377 



What are the real Spindles called? 

Frames, or jennies and mules. The throstle frame of spindles 
spins coarse warps. The self-acting mule, the hand-mule, the 
doubling frame and the mule doublers and twiners make both 
coarse and fine yarns. 

Define some of these terms. 

To card, is to comb, as you would card a horse. To card 
Cotton, Wool, Silk, Flax or Hair, lays its fibres parallel and brings 
away some dirt or foreign substance, if there be any in the 
fibres. To scutch and lap is to beat, blow, clean and, in Cotton 
to produce Cotton batting or bat. Mule is German for Mill. 
Roving and slubbing both mean a drawing out and a slight 
twisting at the same time. Throstle is the name of a spinning 
machine where the spindles revolve on a stationary base, while 
on a mule (mill), the spindles themselves may revolve on a mov- 
able base. For the result is the same whether the fibre move 
away from the spindle, or vice versa. 

Describe briefly the Cotton process that precedes the real 
Spindles. 

The Cotton, seedless, from the bale, goes into the opener, 
which blows, beats and passes it to the lapper, which flattens it 




Fig. 142. THREE-CYLINDER COTTON OPENER, BEATER AND LAP MACHINE, 



378 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 




CLOTHES, ETC. 379 

and prepares it for the scutcher, another beater and purifier. 
These are large steel machines, with shafts rapidly revolving by 
steam-power. The Cotton in laps now goes into the carding 
engine, another large steel machine, which has a toothed cylin- 
der, with smaller toothed cylinders revolving the other way. 
After passage through this process the Cotton, now an airy 
fleece, enters the combing machine, passes into a funnel which 
narrows it, through rollers that flatten it, and coils as " slivers " 
into a can that awaits it. The can of slivers is now taken to the 
dra wing-fra me. 

Describe the Drawing- Frame for Cotton. 

By passage between four sets of small rollers, each set revolv- 
ing about six times faster than the set behind it, the slivers of 
Cotton-fleece are drawn out to a considerable length. The lower 
in each set is fluted lengthwise and the upper one is covered 
with leather, to enable it to hold well to the Cotton. Many 
slivers are fed into the drawing-frame at once, and the mess 
comes from the machine about twelve hundred times longer 
than it entered. 

Where does the sliver of Cotton now go ? 

To the stubbing or twisting machine, which has a preliminary 
spindle, and a bobbin to receive the slightly twisted sliver. The 
slubber has three sets of rollers or stretchers. Great numbers 
of original slivers are now in the sliver that is stretched and 
slightly twisted in the slubbing frame. From the bobbins of the 
slubber the twisted sliver goes to the stretching rollers of the 
intermediate-frame. Here the slivers are again doubled. As 
these frames come, each has more spindles. We now arrive at 
the roving (twisting) frame, merely another and last set of 
the roller-stretchers, with seldom less than one hundred spindles. 
When the sliver or rove is on the bobbins from these spindles, it 
is ready for spinning in fact. It must be understood that 
different spinners may use a different series of stretching-appa- 
ratus. They may combine the rollers in fewer or separate them 
into a greater number of machines. 



380 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 







l - 



CLOTHES, ETC. 381 

What state is the Cotton now in ? 

It is a fine, fleecy, roving, or slightly twisted string, incapable 
of bearing much strain, useless as warp y but if further elongated, 
it might be used as woof {or weft). It now goes either to Ark- 
wright's throstle* or to Hargreave's jenny — or to combinations 
of the two machines. 

What was Hargreave's Jenny ? 

He saw a spinning-wheel fall over. The fly-wheel was going 
rapidly, and the spindle standing vertically continued to whirl, 
while the flax continued to twist off its point. So he set up a 
row of eight spindles, turned them all by one wheel, and with a 
long holder, drew flax away from them all at once. This he 
called a spinning-jenny, jenny being the word for a little engine. 
The spinners, believing his jenny with its eighty spindles (as 
afterward enlarged) would starve them, mobbed him. With this 
jenny, only woof was prepared. The warp was always of Linen 
threads. 

What did Arkwright do ? 

He made the throstle^ and all the roller machines called frames 
that have been here mentioned. He called it spinning by roll- 
ers. He grasped the idea of elongation in this manner while 
seeing a bar of iron stretch out while passing through the roll- 
ers, and obtained the same effect by having two sets of rollers, 
the forward ones going faster than the rear ones. In this way 
the Cotton was stretched out. Now, if we mount a stretching 
set of these pairs of rollers on a frame, set before them a row of 
bobbins, and take off each of the bobbins and end of the pre- 
pared Cotton — the sliver 9 or the roving — then we will be stretch- 
ing many yarns at once. We may now lead the yarn down to 
the point of a spindle which is whirling with great rapidity. 
Here by the action of flyers, or little arms which go around 
with the spindle near its point, carrying the thread with them, 
the thread is twisted and pulled toward the bobbin, which sur- 
rounds the spindle, and the bobbin is made to evolve by a 
passing belt of cloth that rubs against it. With this throstle, 



3*2 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



', ?: • r > 





CLOTHES, ETC. 



383 




384 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

nearly all ordinary warps are made, but it is not used for 
fine threads. Of course, the throstle was mobbed worse than 
the jenny. 

Suppose our roving go to the mule-jenny instead of the 
throstle? 

The mule is a return to the Hargreaves idea of pulling the 
yarn off the very point of the spindle. Arkwright's rollers are 
used and are stationary. A moving carriage, holding a great 
number of spindles travels away for two yards from a set of Ark- 
wright's throstle-rollers. The carriage goes much faster than 
the roving comes from the rollers. The spinner watches each 
yarn with a skill that can only be obtained in years of service, 
and when the carriage is far enough out, the rollers stop while 
the carriage comes back — as in a single-cylinder printing-press 
or a saw-mill. Whether this mulebe hand-tented or self-acting, 
it makes the hardest and finest yarns. 

Was the English Government jealous of the possession of 
these machines? 

Yes, None were exportable, nor could a spinner, or one 
acquainted with the throstle, mules, or carding engine emigrate, 
even to America. All out-going baggage and mail was searched 
for models and plans, and a model was actually seized in a trunk 
at a custom house. Nevertheless, the secret reached America at 
an early date. Now there are vast Cotton mills, both in China 
and Mexico. The actual secrecy of all the trades is, even to-day, 
a matter worthy of observation. 

What were the benefits of the mule fenny? 

From a pound of Cotton the spinners had obtained two hun- 
dred and one thousand six hundred feet of yarn, or eighty 
hanks of eight hundred and forty yards each. By Crompton's 
mule-jenny it was possible to spin a pound of the same Cotton 
into eight hundred and eighty-two thousand feet of yarn, or 
three hundred and fifty hanks of eight hundred and forty yards 
each. 

What is our Sewing thread? 

Usually a cable of six cords of yarn. It may be three, four or 



CLOTHES, ETC. 



385 




25 



386 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



ix cord. It is numbered according to the twists these cords 

to the inch when they are put together. The thread-twister 

has usually purchased his yarn from the spinner, scoured it, 




reeled it like silk from the cocoon, doubled it into two-cord, 
twisted the two-cord, then tripped the two-cord twist and 
twisted that. It is then bleached, like Silk and starched. The 



CLOTHES, ETC. 387 

spools are made by machinery. At the World's Fair, there were 
exhibited machines that did really all the work of getting the 
thread on the consumer's spool, and labeling it for market. 

Why was Cotton Thread made so strong ? 

Originally, because the shuttle or hook of the sewing machine 
gave the ancient thread a strain that it would not bear. Thus the 
machines make for themselves an infinitude of labor. 

Where did our wooden spools originate ? 

The Glasgow and Paisley thread-makers — J. and P. Coats 
operated at Paisley — took ash and birch, dried it and cut it 
into cross sections called blocks. Coats invented a blocking 
machine. With these blocks self-acting lathes can be used, and 
the spools can be made as fast as they are needed. 

What is Cotton crochet-thread? 

It is only unstarched Cotton six-cord thread, as you may 
observe by taking it apart. The yarn was not stretched out in 
the roving, but the fibre was very fine. The soft roving has 
been twisted, then doubled and then the double has been tripled. 
This makes a beautiful cord, much like Silk, and chemically not 
greatly at variance with Silk. 

We are now back to the Looms. Is not our cheap Lace woven 
07t the Loom ? 

Yes. On a loom. The bobbin-net or Nottingham lace was in- 
vented in England, and had no prototype in India. The lace loom 
as first operated at Nottingham, England and Calais, France, 
bears but little resemblance to our old-time looms. The beam 
or cylinder that holds the web of finished lace is above the reed, 
and both the warp and woof threads are fastened to it at the 
beginning. The woof threads swing like a pendulum. The 
Jacquard cards are used to give the pattern on the lace. When 
lace was first woven by the knitting process, and the gimp-thread 
worked patterns on top of the net, the gimp-thread jumped from 
one pattern to another, leaving a trail of gimp-thread. This was 
cut away by children. Lace which answers every purpose of 
decoration is made on the machines at less tho.n one-twentieth 



388 



THE FIRESIDE UMVEKSITY 




150. A LACK MAKER AT WORK. 



CLOTHES, ETC. 389 

of the very low prices paid for pillow-lace. Of course, the 
quality of the material may be the same. 

Has Loom-Making prospered in America ? 

Yes. At the World's Fair the exhibits were very fine. Rib* 
bons were made in solid colors ; twelve Jacquard looms were run 
with one set of cards. Looms were run with paper cards, iron 
roller cards and iron bar and peg cards. A loom company at 
Worcester, Mass., manufactures power looms for worsted, wool- 
ens, dress goods, flannels, blankets, jeans, ginghams, upholstery, 
draperies, shawls, jute carpets, ingrain carpets, silks, velvets, 
satins, burlap, jute bags, ribbons, suspenders, bindings, etc. A 
branch of this house at Dobcross, Eng., has made over ten 
thousand looms for foreign use. 

What are the chief uses of Cotton Cloth ? 

For the underwear and bedding of the people. In temperate 
climates, the outer summer-wear of the women is chiefly woven 
of Cotton warp and woof. The white shirts of the Caucasian race 
are nearly all Cotton, But in very hot climates, white Cotton 
becomes the main wearing apparel, as it has the minimum of 
receiving capacity for "the heat leveled at it by the sun. If, 
therefore, we consider the shirts, underskirts, sheets, pillow- 
cases, comforters (as we call these in America), calicos, muslins, 
cambrics, Canton flannels, etc., that go to make up the wardrobe 
of the human race, not to speak of the Cotton warp that underlies 
so much of our Woolen wear and carpets, we shall see that the 
Cotton-silk, bursting from its seed-pod, is one of the most import- 
ant things with which civilized man deals. Its manipulation 
and sale have sensibly altered the habits and relations of the 
human race. 

What is Calico ? 

It was first a printed cotton cloth brought from Calicut. This 
was an Indian city, once called Calicoda, because the first mon- 
arch gave to a chief a sword and all the land around the temple 
from which a cock's crowing could be heard — Calicoda meaning 
cock-crowing. In England, Calico still applies to white Cotton. 
In France, printed calico is called (cloth) Iudiouic, and in Italy, 



990 'ME FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Indiana cloth. In the United States, Calico is Cotton cloth 
printed in colors with inks or dyes. 

To what may Calico printing be likened? 

To the printing of daily journals from rolls of paper. From 
1 865 until the 7o's, when the ten-cylinder Hoe press was in vogue, 
the similarity was striking, although in those days a roll of paper 
was not used. In a Calico-press, there may be eighteen little 
cylinders surrounding the big one. The little cylinders are of 
copper and the part of the Calico-pattern that each cylinder is 
to impress has been graven in the copper with acids, or by pres- 
sure from a steel cylinder. These cylinders form an expensive 
feature of the plant of a great mill. The color or dye is served 
to the cylinder from a trough, and the cylinder is scraped by a 
doctor (conductor). The roll or web of cloth goes through this 
press as a roll of newspaper or wall-paper would go. 

What are the preliminaries of making Calico? 

The cloth must be singed — the down must be burned off by 
passage over a hot plate, or it may be cut off with rapidly-acting 
knives. It must be bleached, boiled, washed, then again bleached, 
boiled, washed, etc. It then goes between heavy rollers and is 
"calendared." It is now ready for the press (machine) and the 
dyes and mordants. 

What is a Mordant ? 

Mordere, in Latin, means to bite. A mordant like tin in the 
dye-house and in chemistry, is a compound whose molecules 
have the same affinity for the carbon-compound called the Cotton 
fibre that they have for the carbon-compound called the dye- 
stuff, thus making the three molecules into one molecule that 
cannot be easily broken up. 

What is the modern process of printing Calico ? 

By means of the aniline dyes (see Chemistry), the mordant 
may be mixed in the same dye-box with the color, and the two 
go on the cloth under the same cylinder. Thus, where aniline 
colors are used, the cloth comes off the press, where it has been 
entirely printed with dyes that were each mixed with mor- 
dants. It then enters a long steaming oven, travels slowly to a 






CLOTHES, ETC. 391 

roller, folds back to another roller, then forward over another, 
and then down into a wagon that is ready to receive it and be let 
out of the chamber. One chamber will steam twenty-five thou- 
sand yards a day. The steam drives all the molecules of the 
cloth dye and mordant into permanent union. 

How are the pigments or painters* colors fastened to the 
Calico ? 

An albumen is mixed with the insoluble powders that 
painters use. This goes on the cloth, and when the cloth is 
steamed, the albumen coagulates and itself becomes insoluble. 
The albumen adheres to both the fibre and the powder, and the 
cloth is in reality painted, like the front of a house. As the 
steam process has displaced nearly all other methods, we need 
not describe the old dye-vats, madder styles, padding styles, 
resist styles and discharge styles. 

How is the steamed Calico finished? 

It must be stretched in breadth, chlored (with chlorine), 
starched, dried, dampened, calendared, and plaited into a book 
for market. Book is from beech-board in German, which denotes 
the board around which the bolt is wound. Many of these pro- 
cesses are the same for white goods, Calicos, muslins and other 
goods. Weight and gloss are given to the face of the cloth. 

Describe some of these processes for finishing Calico. 

After passage through the stretching-machines the cloth goes 
to the chloring machine, where the under one of two rollers 
dips into chlorine water and wets the printed calico, which then 
enters a steam chest, where the action of the chlorine is instantly 
arrested. This momentary bleaching has brightened the white 
ground, without dimming the colors. Now the cloth goes 
through rollers and over hot copper cylinders. 

How is the Calico starched? 

By a device very similar to the chloring machine. The lower 
roller dips into boiled starch, egg y or a like mixture, and carries 
the mixture up to the cloth. This goes up into another pair of 
rollers and gets well saturated. The cloth is dried again on 
hot cylinders, and dampened for the final calendaring, or pres- 






THE FIRESIDE LWIVERSITV. 



sure between cylinders. The plaiting machine may fold the 
Calico around the board. The books are pressed under a 
hydraulic machine. It is said that the Calico works use forty 
million eggs a year. 

What is Wool? 

Wool is the hair of an animal. It differs from the fibre of 
Cotton or Silk in its mechanical structure, having small out- 
jutting hairs, and it is for this reason that it can be felted, as 
the little hair-twigs catch with one another. And the natural 
felting, more or less, of all Woolen cloths is the characteristic 
which marks them apart from Silk, Cotton and Flax goods. The 




151. THE WOOLEN FIBRE. UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 

sheep, goat, llama and other animals furnish our Wool, but 
mainly the sheep. The Wool is washed, scrubbed, bleached, 
oiled, scribbled and treated like Silk, Cotton and Flax. Wool 
is warmer than Cotton, stronger, and will absorb more moisture. 
In cold climates it is used in cloth for undergarments covering 
the entire person except the extremities, and on account of the 
protection it affords from incoming heats, many men prefer to 
wear it in the very hot weather of northern climates. 

What is the Wool Scribbler? 

The scribbler or scribbling card, with its similar engines, is 3 



CLOTHES, ETC 



393 



complex series of delicate and expensive machinery. Around a 
large cylinder with many teeth, revolve in different directions, 





STRIPPER 

ran 




Figs. 152, 153, 154. THE WOOL SCRIBBLER AND DIAGRAMS. 



as many as twelve small toothed cylinders. The Wool goes into 
this machine and is torn in ten thousand ways. Two or three of 
these engines transform the Wool into a round sliver, that can 
be handled on the spinning jenny* 



304 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Is there much to be done after Woolen Cloth leaves the Loom ? 

The greater part of the labor remains. As it leaves the loom 
the cloth is called u roughers." It is full of oil and size, and it 
must be "fulled" or "milled." Soaking with hot soap-suds, 




Fig. 156. WOOLEN CLOTH OPEN WIDTH SCOURING MACHINE. 

the cloth goes through rollers until it shrinks and felts, some- 
times to half its original length and breadth. It is now washed, 
dried and stretched, and is ready to take the nap. 

What are Broadcloth, Doeskins and Meltons ? 

They are highly milled Woolen Cloths with a nap, and this 
nap is produced in a way that will interest the student of 
practical affairs An herb called the teasel bears little hooks on 
its seed-pod. The manufacturer binds these teasels on a large 
drum, thus making a card with tiny, weak little hooks. This 
drum he revolves over the soft Woolen Cloth. The hooks 
catch the Woolen fibre and draw it out so it will hide the warp 
and woof. The hook is nearly always weaker than the fibre. 
The cloth is then pressed, and offers a less shining surface than 
satin. All substitutes for teasels are given the same name by 
the weavers. Teasels have been grown by speculators, and the 
crop is separated into kings, middlings and scrubs. This Cloth 
has been worn by the English-speaking men as " best clothes M 
more than any other, but its use grows less general of late years. 
For state occasions, for dress-coats, for ministers and other 
professional men, Woolen Cloth with a fine nap continues to be 
helcl in the utmost estimation, 




CLOTHES, ETC. 305 

What are Woolen " Stuffs " ? 

They are all sorts of cloth that have not been operated on to 
make a nap. Rather, they may have been singed, sheared, 
soaked, scoured and pressed, leaving the texture in plain sight. 
Of this order are serges, repps, merinos, delaines, tartans, 
camlets, says, etc. All the plain furniture coverings are of this 
order. Cropping (shearing) is now done by a machine. 

Name some other Woolen goods. 

Cassimeres are the chief materials of men's business wear. 
Cassimere was once Kerseymere. It is a twilled cloth, where 
the woof passes over one and under two warps, the pattern 
changing each time so as to make diagonal lines. This cloth is 
more flexible than plain cloth of the same material, hence its 
popularity. Flannels and blankets are loosely woven cloths 
from yarn that is itself loosely spun. Such cloths are not 
milled, nor must the housewife subject them to milling or felting 
processes by washing them in hot soap-suds without restretching. 

But classify the Woolen Cloths more thoroughly. 

First the milled and fulled cloths that are felted, napped and 
pressed — broadcloths, meltons, doeskins, beavers and friezes. 
Second, the cloths that are milled and cropped bare, with no 
desire to felt them — these are the great body of men's wearing 
apparel — tweeds, diagonals, silk mixtures, men's worsted. Third, 
the H stuffs." Fourth, the hosiery knittings. Fifth, the carpets. 
Sixth, the blankets, flannels, shawls, etc. Seventh, mixtures 
with hair and u grasses," etc. 

What is the peculiarity of Worsted? 

In worsted cloth the Wool is carded or scribbled from a long 
staple or hair. These hairs are laid in paralled lines. They are 
then twisted very hard into yarn and woven into cloth in a 
twill pattern. The chance to felt is very small. This cloth 
resists wear, but has the disadvantage of so throwing the light 
as to give the appearance of being outworn long before the 
texture is really harmed by service. When the inventors 
secure a worsted cloth that will not shine in streaks, the ideal 
wearing cloth will have been attained. 



396 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



What arc the essentials of Carpet-Weaving? 

The starching of the threads and the looping and printing or 
dyeing of the upper warp. Through the introduction of a sub- 
stitution of the textile grasses and shoddy, the price of carpets 
for offices and households has been rapidly cheapened. Within 
the last twenty years the best fabrics of this order have been 
within the reach of all households. The oriental rugs have also 
been imitated and hawked from door to door. The Turks 
themselves have established magazines for the sale of their 
beautifully-dyed, soft long-wearing Wools, and the people have 
all shared the benefits of the progress in this line of the arts and 
its commerce. 

What was our old-time Ingrain Carpet? 

It was the Kidderminster or Scotch Carpet. It was made of 
two and later of three webs laced togther. This Carpet can be 
woven with the Jacquard cards. It is liked by many house- 
wives because it can be turned, mended, etc., and is a yard 
wide. But its use is not economical. The warp is worsted- 
spun ; the woof is a softer twist. 

What was Br ns sells Carpet? 

A much heavier web, only twenty-seven inches wide, with a 
linen under-warp and woof, supporting .rows of worsted loops. 
Vast numbers of hanging bobbins were used for the worsted 
warp, and the Jacquard cards operated on these threads, as in a 
lace machine. The loops were made over a round wire, and left 
uncut. 

What was Moquette or Wilton Carpet? 

The same fabric, with the worsted or softer Woolen warp 
loops cut after the wire was drawn out, or by drawing the sharp 
wire out. 

How did the Tapestry Carpets change all this ? 

Whytock invented a process of printing the yam for the loops, 
so that after it was woven it would make a figure in the loops 
of the carpet. Threads miles in length were colored by steps 
of half an inch or less. The upper warp was now put on the 
beam as of yore, and the Jacquard cards (at $350 a pattern) were 



CLOTHES, ETC. 397 

no longer needed. In this way, tapestry Brussells Carpet came to 
be sold three times as cheaply as before. Of course, the loops 
could be cut to make the velvet Carpets of different names. 

What is the patent Axminster Carpet? 

This is the modern velvet Carpet, with unstarched, Turkish- 
like pile, that has entered our best rooms, to the exclusion of 
even the handsomest Brussells carpets. It was invented by 
Templeton, of Glasgow, and we will attempt, at least, to give 
the main principles of the process. It is, briefly, to hasten the 
methods of the Turk. A web of double chenille (soft Wool 
yarn) is first woven ; this is cut into strips, and these strips then 
become fringes, to be set upright in the second web that is now 
woven. The carpet itself becomes a soft brush. The figure is 
composed by using pile or wisps of the brush or velvet that 
have different colors. 

How is the Axminster pattern secured? 

On paper, and in the exact colors to be followed by the 
chenille-weaver, the design of the carpet is painted. This 
paper design is ruled off into tiny squares, for exact measure- 
ment, and cut into longitudinal strips, which guide the chenille- 
weaver in the use of his yarns. By means of this guide, when 
the chenille web is cut into pieces, in order" to prepare it to 
become the cross-thread or " cross-brush " in the upper part of 
the second weaving, the ends of the upward-sticking brush of 
chenille yarns form the flower or figure. In fact, the old velvet 
Carpet loops are turned over or reversed ; they are put closer 
together ; they are not starched. Finally, the Turkey-carpet 
weaver is rapidly imitated, and his carpet is acknowledged to 
be the best. 

What influences on the health have affected the Carpet-trade. 

It is seen that the velvet Carpet, particularly, should not be 
fastened to the floor, or in the corners of the room, owing to its 
capacity for dust, and the facility with which it sets dust free 
into the air. Hard floors, with rugs that can be easily shaken 
are accordingly taking the place of carpeted rooms, notwith- 
standing the sense of bareness, and the almost dangerous 



398 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

smoothness, of such surfaces. The advance in the knowledge 
of microbes has given an impetus to this hygienic movement. 

How is Felt ma?iufactured ? 

Laps or plaits of carded Wool, from the scribbling engines are 
laid on top of one another. The laps are very thin, and the 
upper and lower ones are usually of Wool or fur that is finer or 
more rare than the inner laps. The compound lap now passes 
between rollers, the upper roller solid and heavy, the lower one 
hollow and steam-heated. Water is supplied by partial immer- 
sion. The upper roller oscillates to aid the felting. It is 
probable that ancient man washed the oil out of Wool with 
alkaline earths or ashes and then trod the Wool on a hard place 
till it felted. The Wool weaver oils his yarns to keep them from 
felting while he weaves. There is a wide modern use of Felt — 
for horse-blankets, carriage robes, printed carpets, boiler-covers, 
piano-covers, table-covers, etc. Broadcloth, etc., is largely 
felted after weaving. 

How are our round Felt Hats made? 

The Felt may be a mixture of wool, beaver, otter, rabbit and 
other hairs or furs. The Wool is manipulated on a rapidly- 
revolving hollow metallic cone. This cone has holes in its sides, 
and within it, a draught of air is sucked in by an exhaust-fan. 
Thus the Wool is sucked on and held to the cylinder. In this 
way a comparatively enormous hat is made. It is then bathed 
in sulphuric acid and otherwise shrunken in size. This is the 
" hat-body." It then goes to the dye-house. It is stiffened 
with shellac and alcohol. Hat bodies are made in the East and 
shipped to hat-finishers in the West. The finisher puts the felt 
cone on a wooden block, steams it constantly, varnishes it, irons 
it, scrubs it, wires the brim, binds it and puts the band on. The 
result is a head-covering which is worn by nearly all classes. 
For the soft hat there is no stiffening and far less molding in 
steam. 

How is this steam applied to the Hat ? 

The hat-finisher has a " steam-forge." In the middle of his 
table is a grating from which rises a geyser of steam. This 
steam is caught in a great funnel overhead. The hat on its 



CLOTHES, ETC 



399 



mold must be often held in the steam. This makes the work- 
room a hot, damp and disagreeable place. It is said that a hat- 
finisher can be known by the peculiar callosities which the block 
makes on the back of his left hand. 

What other interesting thing is to be said of Felt ? 
A vast number of yellow people, inhabiting Central Asia, 
keep their women busy making Felt. 

How is Plush for Silk Hats made? 

It is woven with an upper warp-beam of very soft reeled Silk. 
This upper warp is looped up far higher than is usual for the 
velvet style of weaving, and the loop has no sizing or stiffening. 
The under warp and the woof threads may be of inferior Silk 
or of Cotton. When the loops are cut they are dressed all in 
one direction, pressed and made ready for market. Lyons is 
the centre of this manufacture. The tall Silk hat continues to 
be the head-covering for Europeans and Americans on state 
occasions, and is also worn by professional men. Silk plush 
displaced beaver plush and fur. 




Fig. 157, MIXING WILLEY FOR SHODDY 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is Shoddy? 

Shoddy is the restoration of Woolen rags and cloth to a 
fibrous form, and a re-weaving of the goods into new cloth. Or 
the shoddy lap may be mixed with new slivers or rovings for the 
weighting. of new goods. It is a business of rag-picking, old- 
clothes buying, sorting, washing, etc. Cotton is charred out of 
the mass by the action of sulphuric acid. The shredding 
cylinder has eleven thousand teeth. When this scribbler is done 
with a rag, even the yarn that formed the web has been torn into 
its original parts. More shoddy-fibre is made in the United 
States than anywhere else. It was first heard of here in the 
times of the civil war. It is essentially an economy, and makes 
the cheap Woolen suits of the day possible. It is said, with 
what truth we know not, that 2,500,000 persons in the United 
States are connected with the manufacture of shoddy-fibre, 
shoddy cloth and shoddy garments. 

What astonishing difference remains between the manufac- 
ture of Clothes for Men and Women ? 

Clothes for men are kept ready-made, and tailors also thrive 
as a class, while the outer garments of women are still made at 
home, without the advantages to be derived from steam-power 
and a division of labor. The fashions of women's dresses 
undergo constant change, while men usually wear out their 
clothing. The supply of ready-made Cotton goods for women, 
however, has made great progress. 

What is Linen ? 

Cloth made from the fibres of Flax. This shining white cloth 
is used for the table, for the fronts of shirts, for collars, and for 
cuffs. Cotton sheets have supplanted the use of Linen in our 
bedding. The spinning and weaving of Linen yarn was one of 
the earliest of man's arts. Linen was long needed : as the warp 
of all goods that carried a Cotton woof, as the- Cotton yarn 
could not be spun strong enough. Of late years,.Coiton has 
come to serve in nearly all the places of Linen, and even in 
goods sold as pure Linen, inner surfaces of Cotton are imposed 
on the buyer. 



CLOTHES, ETC 



401 




Fig. 158. A, FLAX PLANT; B, FLOWER; C, FRUIT. 



What did the Nineteenth Century bring about ? 

The Linen industry was driven to the wall by Cotton, and it 
flourishes (or languishes) now only in Russia, Ireland and Cen- 
tral Europe, where the modern mill and its agents have not yet 
conquered. Linen has become a luxury, like Silk in China. 
Thus, in two parts of the earth, it has been found that the people 
could clothe themselves satisfactorily at far smaller expense. 

How is Flax prepared ? 

It is pulled out of the ground. Its seeds are especially valuable 
as furnishing an oil which is the best vehicle in which to carry 
white lead for paint, but here, also, Cotton seed oil has come 
forward to take the place of linseed oil. The Flax is immersed 
in ponds, and retted (rotted) ; it is spread in the meadows to 
bleach ; it is beaten ; it is scutched or split ; it is heckled 
(carded) ; it is spun into yarn ; it is bleached as white as snow 
in the sun, or by acids ; it is woven. The same spinning wheel 



CLOTHES, ETL 403 

can be used for Flax and for Wool, but the Irish housewife or 
maiden would rather spin Wool than Flax. 

Why is Linen stronger than Cotton ? 

The Cotton fibre is a minute tube of cellulose. The Linen 
fibre is a solid, containing the earthy elements like silicon and 
magnesium. The Linen fibre is long ; the Cotton fibre is short. 
The Linen fibre is wood ; the Cotton fibre is a pure carbon 
compound. 

How is Oil- Cloth made? 

A piece of Oil-Cloth twenty-four feet wide has originally come 
off a loom that had a warp-beam that wide. The Cloth woven 
was made of Hemp and Flax yarns, and the shuttle was thrown 
across by a man on each side. A hundred yards of this canvas, 
rolled up in one piece, might weigh 600 pounds. 

What comes of this bale of Canvas ? 

It goes to the manufactory. Here it is cut in pieces from sixty 
to one hundred feet long — for we are describing the making of 
a large piece, for the floor of a lecture-room or public hall. The 
pieces are taken to the frame-room. Here upright frames stand 
together, like shelves in a great library, and before each frame 
is a series of four platforms or scaffoldings, connected by stairs 
or ladders. On the frame, the canvas can be stretched by screws 
exactly as if it were to become an ordinary oil painting. The 
back of the canvas is washed with size and rubbed with pumice- 
stone. When this is dry, a layer of thick paint is spread 
with a long steel trowel on the back of the canvas. Ten days 
later a second layer of trowel color is laid on. This completes 
what will be the under side of your Oil-Cloth. 

What is done on the other side of the Canvas? 

The size goes on, the pumice-stone is used, the trowel color 
is laid on ; it is then rubbed with pumice-stone, and two more 
layers and rubbings follow. Now a fourth coat of paint is 
applied with brush, and this is the background of your Oil- 
Cloth. Two or three months have now elapsed. 

How is the Oil- Cloth printed ? 

With wooden blocks, by hand, as was the case with Calico in 



404 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

the old days. The Oil-Cloth passes over a large table. The 
printer inks his blocks as you do your rubber stamps — on 
cushions. The printer strikes the block a blow with a mallet, 
as a printer takes a hurried proof of type. The block is about 
eighteen inches square. A second printer follows with a 
different color and block, and a third, until the pattern is 
complete. 

Why docs not the Oil- Cloth break ? 

Primarily, because the size has protected the inner cloth- 
fibres from the earthen matters of the paint. The oil also acts 
on the earths, to render them somewhat pliable. 

What are our household uses of Oil-Cloth ? 

We put it under the zinc on which our stove stands, to increase 
our security against fire. We put Oil-Cloth in the vestibules of 
our houses, where snow melts, in bath-rooms, where water may 
reach the floor, in strips on stairways, at water-sinks and around 
kitchen ranges. Very handsome small stove-patterns are now 
common and cheap, as machinery can be used in their fabrica- 
tion. The Oil-Cloth interest in America reaches many millions 
of dollars. The foreign Oil-Cloths emit a far more disagreeable 
odor than our own manufacture. 

How long has Oil- Cloth been made? 

In the London Merctirius Politicus, No. 606 (February, 1660), 
is the following advertisement: " Upon Ludgate Hill, at the 
Sun and Rainbow, dwelleth one Richard Bailey, who maketh 
Oyl-Cloth the German way ; and is also very skillful in the art 
of Oyling of Linen Cloth, or Taffeta of Wooling of either; so 
as to make it impenetrable, that no wet or weather can enter." 

What is Linoleum ? 

A floor-cloth, invented by Walton, of England, by which 
ground cork and linseed oil are applied to jute canvas. Lin- 
seed oil is oxidized or aired and thickened until it can be cast 
into bricks ; cork is ground ; the two substances are pressed 
upon or into Jute Cloth between rollers that are steam-heated. 
This cloth has the advantage of being more soft or noiseless 
than Oil-Cloth. 



CLOTHES, ETC 405 

What is Lincrusta- Walton ? 

It is Linoleum, on the top of which molded Linoleum 
material in various colors has been superposed or embossed. 
Thus colored, tile-like patterns can be cast and affixed to the sub- 
stratum, or any raised and bronze-like arabesquerie can be 
managed. The richest wall decorations of recent times have 
thus been secured. A story is told of a New York candy-seller 
who decorated his store with the costliest embossed patterns of 
Lincrusta-Walton, at an expense of many thousand dollars. 
The store became a u lion " on Broadway, and the landlord, 
hopeful of gain, rented the place to a rival candy seller who 
would pay twice the rent. What was his chagrin, however, on 
entering the store the next time, to find it tastefully decorated 
with wall paper that had cost only ten cents a roll ! 

Is Straw woven f 

Yes. The manufacture of hats for men, and formerly of 
bonnets for women, has given to this industry a leading place 
in commerce. In all countries, the men don straw hats in the 
summer. The fields of Tuscany long produced the best straw 
that could be found for bonnets — hence the once famous Leg- 
horn hat, made of wheaten stems. The true Panama hat is 
made from the leaves of the screw pine. Massachusetts long 
had the straw hat trade of America. In the old days, the straw 
hat was always soft and pliable. It is now nearly always very 
stiff with starch or sizing. 

What are the " Textile Grasses f " 

Beside flax, the very important ones (so-called) are hemp, 
jute, manilla, sisal grass, Tampico fibre, flag and coir yarn 
from the husk of the cocoa-nut. 

What great manufactures arise ottt of these materials ? 

Our Oil-Cloths, mats, coarse twines, clothes-lines and sail 
rope, matting for summer carpets, chair-bottomings, grain bags 
and covering for cotton bales. As there are sometimes ten 
million bales of cotton, this alone makes an enormous industry. 
Accordingly, as fine Linen fabrics have become rare, coarse 
hemp and jute webs have increased, until now the looms and 



406 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



spindles of these factories are counted with pride by the census- 
takers. The bagging and baling of a vast country like the 




Fig. 160. THE JUTE PLANT. 

United States promise to increase. Our coffee and chocolate 
also comes to us in bags. The bottoms of all our fine carpets 
are nearly always of hemp or jute. 

What is to be said finally of the Textile Arts ? 

The wide expanse of the Cotton States was given to the cul- 
tivation of the Cotton fibre. The cards were placed on a cylin- 
der. The spindle was set on end and flying arms given to its 
point. Stretching rollers were added, each doing the work of 
many hands. Steam power was used to propel the loom. The 
Jacquard cards were attached to lift and depress the warp # 
Two or more warp beams were used. Revolving shuttle-boxes 
supplied different shuttles. The various lace machines were 
made, weaving many kinds of mesh. The felting, napping and 
shearing of thick cloths began. The use of the textile grasses 






CLOTHES, ETC. 



407 



for the underside of carpets was found to be prudent. The 
methods of the Turk were put into mechanical operation for 
velvet carpets. The secrets of chemistry were exposed, and the 
hydro-carbon colors triumphed over all. Cloth was printed as 
if it were paper, and as rapidly. Until at the present day the 
infinite fancy of man for different forms has been pleased, and 
no single catalogue contains the names of all the products of 
the loom. 





& Unbia IRubber. 

TtTTt ' 

T^^RQ^ ^Sk^tst^^K — vx — MC-Tft^Sft" — 3ft — 3ft — 3ft — vr — 3ft — 3ft~~«r~ 




♦♦ 



«•♦■ 



W7/tf / w India Rubber ? 

As we know it, India Rubber is a tree-gum or milk, mixed 
with sulphur and pigments, molded and steamed or dry- 
heated in a tight chest or vulcanizer. A quarter of sulphur, 
three-quarters of gum and 270 degrees of heat make a soft, 
elastic substance. A half each of sulphur and gum with 370 
degrees of heat continued six times longer, make ebonite or 
gutta percha. Many minor chemicals are added by various 
manufacturers. The process was called "vulcanization" by 
Goodyear. 

What is the gum called India Rubber ? 

A remarkable union of atoms of carbon and hydrogen alone, 
by which a unique compound is obtained. This compound is 
the most elastic of substances and at the same time among the 
most impervious to air and water. But it was for centuries so 
sticky and unstable, that it could not be used for clothing, etc. 
The life of Charles Goodyear, an American, was devoted to the 
experiments which resulted in the every-day use of India Rub- 
ber and Gutta Percha by the people. 

What is Gutta Percha ? 

Gutta is the Malay word for gum, and percha is the tree the 
gum comes from. But there are many trees that yield the milky 
gum that we make into India Rubber, and we use the word 
Gutta Percha to mean India Rubber that has been vulcanized 
until it is perfectly hard, and capable of carrying a high finish. 
408 



INDIA RUBBER. 



409 




Fig. 161. THE INDIA RUBBER PLANT. 

How do we find ourselves indebted to the use of India 
Rubber? 

When we telephone, we use gutta percha. When it rains or 
is muddy, we encase our shoes in rubbers or overshoes, or hunt- 
ing-boots. At our desks we are in constant need of a rubber 
eraser (from which need, indeed, the rubber takes its name), and 
rubber bands are daily coming into more general use for the 
wrapping of articles that are not to remain long in their wrap- 
pers. There is rubber in nearly every pair of suspenders, 
whether for child or man. The garden hose is of rubber. 
Wrapped around the bicycle wheel that hose becomes a rubber 
tire, while the horseman and the horseless wagons are both 
inclined to accept the rubber tire as a part of their future. Our 
water-bottles, syringes, door-listings, mats, piano-covers, wet- 
weather coats, gossamers, knife-handles and combs are often of 
rubber or gutta percha. Rubber stamps do a great deal of 
printing, especially of dates. 

What natural objections to manufactured India Rubber 
arise ? 

Its sulphurous odor offends the sense of smell, nor does this 



410 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

fault disappear from Gutta Percha itself. Its capability of ex- 
cluding water and air carries with it the incapability of letting 
air or water out, so that the feet are never wholly comfortable 
while encased in rubbers. It is noticed that heavy arctic over- 
shoes, if covered on top with cloth that will allow the passage 
of air and the absorption of moisture from within, will heat the 
feet less, or will keep them dryer than thin rubbers that entirely 
cover the shoe. Foreign chemical treatment of rubber is even 
less successful than our own. Several sections of the German 
Imperial Exhibit in the Manufactures' Building at the World's 
Fair were carpeted with a rubber cloth that was offensively 
odorous, and remained so all summer. Within thirty years the 
flexibility of rubber under cold has been increased. The ponchos 
of the Union soldier, in 1861, were of rubber. These would 
freeze stiff on a w r intry day. 

What is Caoutchouc? 

It is the South American word for India Rubber. It is 
pronounced Atftf-chook. But American ears have refused to 
receive it as a common word. Rubber is yielded by trees that 
grow in a belt five hundred miles wide on each side of the equa- 
tor, all round the globe. The best comes from Para and Ceara 
in South America ; the next best from Mozambique and Mada- 
gascar. It is grown in West Africa, Malaysia, the West Indies, 
Central America and Australia. We import in the neighborhood 
of twenty million dollars' worth of unmanufactured rubber each 
year. When pure, rubber is odorless, nearly white, and nearly 
as heavy as water. 

In what form does Rubber reach America ? 

The people at Para burn oily palm nuts in a bottle or vase. 
Then dipping a certain instrument, say a stick with a clay 
mold on it, into the milk, they dry the layer of milk in the white 
smoke of the palm nuts as it rises out of the vase. Then another 
layer is dipped, and so on. About five pounds can be prepared 
in an hour. The u biscuit M is then cut away from the mold, or 
griddle, or stick, and sent to New York or Boston, where it 
commands the highest price that is paid. In other places, the 
natives let the milk dry on the tree, pull the gum off in strings, 






INDIA RUBBER. ill 

or roll it in balls. Some natives prepare thin sheets or disks 
of the rubber, not two feet in diameter. It also comes in 
" negrohead," "knuckles," "thimbles," "tongue," "cake," 
11 liver," u junk," and other sailor and tradenames. The best 
Madagascar is pink in color. 

How are these pieces of Rubber manufactured into the articles 
we use ? 

They are not melted over a fire and molded, as we might sup- 
pose. Where molding is necessary, solvents are used. After 
soaking in hot water, the pieces are cut into slices by hand, and 
then washed between wet grooved rollers. Solid impurities are 
crushed and washed away. As the rubber pieces stick together 
when they touch, the rollers send out finally an irregular porous 
sheet, which is hung up to dry or dried in trays. 

What is the Rubber Masticator? 

It is an apparatus consisting of an outer iron cylinder ; inside 
a roller with corrugated surface revolves. The roller may be 
tilted irregularly in the cylinder. The rubber goes into the 
ring-like hole that is open and gets kneaded into a mass that 
can be pressed into solid blocks or bricks. 

What is done with the blocks of Rubber t 
They are fed to a wet knife that makes two thousand cuts a 
minute, and thus the blocks are sliced into sheets. 

What is Vulcanization ? 

To vulcanize rubber, it must be chemically incorporated with 
sulphur — each molecule of rubber must have admitted an atom 
of sulphur. The sheet of rubber can be dipped into melted 
sulphur, and then submitted to the action of high-pressure 
steam. 

Cannot Sulphur be mixed with the washed Rubber ? 

Yes. Sulphur to one-tenth of the weight of the rubber may 
be added, together with any one of such pigments as vermilion, 
oxide of chromium, ultramarine, antimony, lampblack, arsenic, 
or oxide of zinc, and even whiting and barium sulphate may be 
added. After this mixture is masticated, it molds more readily, 
or can be rolled into the sheets that are needed for clothes and 



412 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

for elastic bands, for desk or loom. If the mass is to be made 
hard, various substances may be added. With tar and with 
magnesia, gutta percha may be made. 

How is Rubber Hose made? 

It can be forced through annular holes, like lead pipe or 
macaroni. Or textile hose can be saturated with a solution of 

rubber. 

How is Rubber made solvent or liquid for the time being? 

With chloroform, ethers, alcohols, coal products and carbon- 
sulphur compounds. Rubber can be thus dissolved until it 
will filter through paper, and when dried, leave films of exqui- 
site tenuity. A treatise on the ordinary commercial rubber 
compounds would be an extended treatise on chemistry, as 
many of the Elements are used, and in many ways. 

How is a Rubber Ball made ? 

Mixed rubber is softened by heat, when it becomes like clay. A 
hinged metal mold of a ball, tinned inside and greased, is opened 
and its surface is covered with a layer of rubber, kneaded in. 
A little carbonate of ammonia is inclosed in the mold as it is 
shut, and the mold, is without any core. The mold is now put in 
dry steam at a high temperature for an hour. The air and the 
carbonate exert great pressure on the inside of the rubber, 
forcing its outer surface against the face of the mold and making 
it smooth. The two hemispheres of rubber are also welded 
together, and nearly all rubber toys show the seam left where 
the mold came together. The operation is not unlike the molding 
of a lamp-chimney by a glass-blower — air acts as a core to the 
mold. 

How are Rubber threads woven in suspe?iders and braid? 

The block of rubber may be vulcanized in "spread sheets." 
The sheets may be cut into fine threads — many thousand yards 
to the pound. These threads are always stretched on the loom 
until they have little elasticity left. After the weaving, a hot 
iron is pressed on the cloth, when the rubber resumes its elasti- 
city and springs back, wrinkling the web, or pressing its woof 
more closely together. 




INDIA RUBBER. 413 

What has science accomplished with Rubber, of late ? 

It is found that fine woolen and silken fabrics may be treated 
with mixtures of rubber, the gum being entirely hidden from 
view, with no embarrassing weight added to the garment. In 
this way, overcoats and women's cloaks are made that are not to 
be discovered as rain-shedding vesture. But it is also true that 
several of the woolen webs, such as Irish frieze, felt together so 
firmly that rain will not go through them. These woolens are, 
however, much thicker than the rubber cloths. If two thin 
pieces of cloth are painted with a solution of rubber, their sur- 
faces can be easily fastened together by a touch of sulphur 
chemicals and passage through hot rollers. 

How are Arctic Overshoes made? 

The cloth overshoe, with its woolen lining, is first made. A 
mixture of low quality rubber with heavy pigments, always 
black, is now carefully spread on the lower parts of the shoe 
that are to be covered with rubber. After the building-up on 
the sole is deemed sufficiently thick, the last is fastened into the 
mold which is to give the grating and form to the sole, and the 
mold is put into a dry oven. The East has this trade. 

How are " spread sheets" for Yam and Gossamers made? 

A sheet of cloth is coated with paste, glue and molasses. On 
this a solution of sulphuretted rubber is spread. If a double 
layer be needed, two cloths are spread and then joined. Now 
the cloth is vulcanized by steam heat. The hot vapor softens 
the paste, glue and molasses, and the cloth can be peeled away. 
This sheet can be cut into square thread, or used for water- 
proofs, etc. 

How is my Black Comb made ? 

This, and all the electrical gutta percha articles are the products 
of over-vulcanization with a high ratio of sulphur. Tar also 
gives a black and ebonite effect. The rubber is usually kneaded 
with the sulphur, softened with fluids so it can be molded, and 
then kept in the vulcanizer from six to eight hours. Gutta 
percha vessels are useful to the chemist. 



414 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



How is the red Rubber cast for False Teeth made ? 

It is gutta percha, highly colored by cochineal. The dentists 
of the United States carried on an extended litigation with the 
Goodyear interests over the right to vulcanize their own work 
in their own laboratories. 

What remarkable biographical narrative is connected with 
the history of India Rubber in America ? 

The story of the life and trials of Charles Goodyear, who died 
in i860. He was described, in the midst of his unhappiness, as 
follows. " If you see a man with an India-Rubber coat on, 
India-Rubber shoes, an India-Rubber cap and in his pocket an 
India-Rubber purse, with not a cent in it, that is Goodyear." 
All his early rubbers, if made in winter, would melt in summer, 
with the most abhorrent odor, rendering burial necessary. If 
made in summer, they would freeze in winter. A hired man 
named Hayward discovered that ordinary sulphur was the 
proper chemical agent, and Goodyear discovered the action of 
heat by dropping some of his sulphuretted rubber on a hot 
stove. "Try to sleep !" his wife said to him. " Sleep ! " he 
cried, " how can I sleep, while twenty human beings are drown- 
ing every hour, and I am the man that can save them ?" 

How do we get the word Mackintosh ? 

In 1842, Goodyear sent specimens of his work to Charles 
Mackintosh & Co., of England, and opened negotiations. One 
of the partners of this firm, named Hancock, patented, in 
England, in 1844, a process of vulcanization, but five weeks 
after Goodyear's patent had been publicly described, according 
to the laws of France. Both the English and French courts 
decided against Goodyear's claims, and he died insolvent. Two 
years before his death, the United States Commissioner of 
Patents thus spoke of the losses of Goodyear: "No inventor, 
probably, has ever been so harassed, so trampled upon, so 
plundered by that sordid and licentious class of infringers 
known in the parlance of the world, with no exaggeration of 
phrase, as ' pirates/ Their spoliation of his rights has unques- 
tionably amounted to millions." 



INDIA RUBBER. 



415 



Why did Goodyear say " Vulcanize ? " 

Vulcan was the god of fire in mythology. Volcano is the 
same word, and volcanos are noted for their sulphurous out- 
pourings. Vulcan was at his sulphurous forge under the earth, 
when the volcano was in a state of eruption. Few modern 
commercial verbs have been chosen with as much scholarly skilL 





IL IReebles an£> pins, jg 



9^< 






How are Needles made ? 

From fine steel wire, by a long and painstaking process, in- 
volving much machinery and tasking the health of the workmen. 
The fine wire is coiled. The coil is itself cut into double Needle 
lengths. Bundles of these short wires are heated, and rolled 
and pressed until they become straight. The wires now go to 
the grinder, who with apparatus, is able to hold a great many 
Needles against a dry grindstone, while, with his right hand, he 
slowly revolves the Needles as they are pointed. He is thus 
able to make 100,000 points a day. A hood covers the grind- 
stone and an air-suction attracts some of the dust that fills the 
air around the grinder. Where a grinding-machine is used, the 
Needles are bound by a rubber band on a wheel, sticking out a 
little as they lie flat across the tire of the wheel. The wheel 
revolves so that the Needles touch a curved grindstone revolv- 
ing in another direction, and the Needles are pointed more 
rapidly. 

How is the Needle-eye put in? 

The double-pointed wire is now ground flat at its centre (it is 
still a wire for two Needles) and stamped with the grooves and 
eye-places. The eye-holes are next punched in. A delicate wire 
is run through the eyes of a hundred or so of the wires, and the 
whole comb of wires fastened up tightly with clamps on each 
side, so that the eye-holes and grooves can be smoothed out. 
Now the clamps are broken apart, the wires breaking readily at 

416 



NEEDLES AND PINS. 417 

their centres. With the clamp still on, the hundred Needle- 
heads of one side are rounded with files and wheels. The wire 
is withdrawn and the Needles are handled separately, if need 
be. They are then tempered by heating in a muffled oven and 
plunged in oil, then reheated, and then gradually cooled. 

How does the Needle get its high polish ? 

Bundles, each of several thousand Needles, in a mixture of 
soap, oil and emery powder, are bound tightly with canvas. 
They are then put in the bed of a machine which keeps them 
rolling over, with some friction, so that the Needles must rub 
among themselves. After this, they are washed in soap and 
dried in sawdust. Next the mass of Needles is emptied on 
jerking trays that gradually get them all parallel to each other, 
but some of the points are lying one way and some another. A 
man with a " finger-stool " now presses this piece of cloth or 
cushion against a row of ends, and all that are sharp stick in. 
He is called a header. Those points that miss are faulty, and 
are thrown out. If the eye-holes are to be blued, this is done 
by binding the Needles on awheel with a rubber band, and run- 
ning the projecting eyes through a gas-flame. To smooth 
the inside of the eye-hole, so that it will not afterward break its 
thread, a wire is daubed with emery and oil, and the "Needles 
are strung on the wire. Rows of Needles thus hanging are 
kept dancing in frames until they well smoothed inside. The 
Needles are finished by careful manipulation on small grind- 
stones and buff wheels with putty powder. In late American 
manufactures the groove is omitted, the bluing is not done, and 
the head is ground very close to the eye-hole. The seamstresses 
prefer these Needles for fine work. They are also cheaper. The 
practice of gilding the heads did not gain much headway in 
this country. 

Is the Needle an ancient instrument ? 

Yes. It ranks next to the stone ax and grinding bowl. It 
was made of fish bone. But doubtless thorns were used as early 
as fish-bones. Steel Needles were first made at Nuremberg, 
Germany, at the end of the fourteenth century. 

28 



418 J HE FIRESIDE UXIVERSITY. 

What remarkable tiling did Elias Howe do ? 

He put the eye of the Needle at the point, and thus invented 
the sewing machine, uniting the Needle and the loom in the 
operation of sewing. It is said of the sewing machine, how- 
ever, that it has created unnecessary stitches to as great a 
number as it has saved necessary stitches by hand. Through 
the spectacle of adornment by stitches, we are perhaps led to the 
conclusion that work, in itself, if voluntarily pursued, is one of 
the chief pleasures of man. But to make unnecessary labor a 
painful means of livelihood, is something that governments may 
eventually prevent. 

Did all Sewing-Macliines have the Loom principle ? 

No. By some of them the thread, as it went below, was caught 
by a hook, which made a loop, or knitting. These machines, 
though using a third more thread, were the swiftest. They also 
unraveled easily. In other very swift machines the bobbin was 
a thin revolving disk, which did not shoot back and forth. But 
in the best-known makes — that is, the ones that require the least 
mechanical knowledge to keep them in good order, the shuttle 
shoots back and forth through the loop of thread, exactly as if 
it were in a " shed " in a loom. There is a likeness between the 
variation which put the point in the eye of the Needle, and that 
invention of Arkwright which put the flyer on the point of the 
spindle. 

How are Pins made ? 

Two parts of copper and one part of zinc are melted together 
and cast into a long ingot. This is rolled into sheets. The sheets 
are cut into strips. The strips are drawn through holes in steel 
plates. The wire thus made is annealed and re-drawn. It is 
hung on a reel over the Pin machine. Rollers draw in the wire, 
and it is cut into a Pin-blank, headed in a die. Four revolving 
files put on the point, and an emery belt puts on the first polish. 
Pins drop from this machine at the rate of one hundred and 
sixty a minute. The Pins are put in a revolving barrel with 
sawdust, and scoured. Then they are boiled in Tin, washed with 
soap, and again tumbled in sawdust. 



NEEDLES AND PINS. 419 

Where do the Pins go next ? 

Into the sticking machine. The Pins are put in a hopper, 
slide lengthwise down an inclined plane in separate gutters, reach 
a plate that holds a row, and the row is pushed into the paper, 
whose crimps are ready for the thrust. The paper is fed in from a 
roll, and is cut after the Pins are stuck. Some papers hold 
twelve rows, thirty to the row. Cheaper papers go twenty to the 
row, and fourteen rows to the paper. Formerly, the town people 
where the Pin factory was established, helped to stick the Pins 
in creased paper, at their homes, at six cents or so a dozen 
papers. Machine-made Pins are an American invention, and 
Dr. John T. Howe established the industry in this country. 

How are Mourning Pins made ? 

From iron wire, and japanned — that is, painted and annealed. 
They have been variously headed, often with wax, then with 
wire spirals, and finally in the same way a tin Pin is headed. 

It seems to me that Safety Pins are increasing in use ? 

Yes. Probably because of the invention of a machine for their 
manufacture. They are cut from spring steel wire, sharpened 
by the revolving files, flat-headed and guarded, spiraled at the 
center, and made ready for the tin bath before they drop from 
the machine. These Pins are found by mothers to be more satis- 
factory than buttons for the underwear and night dresses of 
their children, and for use in holding skirts together. 

What becomes of our Pins ? 

This oft-asked question is to be answered in the following 
manner: The modern Pin is cheaply made and often poorly 
tinned. Its point is often defective and always of short life, if 
used. The women become expert as judges of good Pins, and 
with the little instruments so cheap, there is no need of economy 
in saving either a rusty or a pointless Pin. Thus many Pins are 
thrown away. The week's sweeping always reveals a nut . r in 
the dust that is accumulated, and these are not always i*. good 
condition. The children deal in Pins as their first real currency, 
before they deal in marbles, and the wear on Pins so used takes 
nearly all of them out of any other use. If ten Pins were lost 



420 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



each week in twelve million homes, the consumption each year 
would be over six billions. But, beside the children, there has 
come to be an enormous use of Pins in the counting-room and at 
the desk, where documents are pinned together. It is not improb- 
able that the Pins of the large cities go under the pavements, as 
the street-sweepings find their way to new and unpaved 
thoroughfares that are below grade. 




dr 




A (5lass - 




■♦« C^£ E gJ) »» 



W^atf w Glass t 

A hard and brittle substance, through which the light easily 
passes. Heat, on the other hand, is held back, or obstructed. 
Thus Glass is melted only at a high temperature. It has a 
remarkably smooth surface, which will be roughened only by 
ages of exposure to water, and no acid except the sour com- 
pounds of Fluorine eats into it. It thus furnishes us with our 
Glass windows, our bottles, and our best apparatus for artificial 
light. 

What is Glass, chemically ? 

Glass is a compound in which there must be three ingredients : 
i. A sour compound of either silicon or boron; 2. An oxygen 
compound of either potassium or sodium (or both). 3. (For 
transparent Glass.) An oxygen compound of one of the follow- 
ing Elements: Calcium, lead, barium, strontium, magnesium, 
aluminium, zinc, or thallium. (For colored Glass): Iron, manga- 
nese, copper, chromium, uranium, cobalt, arsenic, or gold. In 
brief, Glass is a silicate or borate of at least two metals, and one 
of these metals must be an alkali. The molecule of Glass may 
be theorized, in the most simple manner, as three oxygen mole- 
cules, each one holding a molecule respectively of sodium (or 
potassium), of calcium, and of silicon (or boron) — that is, soda 
(or potash), lime and sand (or borax, which also has soda in it). 
(See Chemistry.) 

421 



4*2 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Illicit is required for Glass-making? 

A very great heat, and as most Glass articles are small, the 
Glass furnace is often divided into small pots or compartments. 
Siemens and Stevenson invented tank furnaces, to do away with 
the little pots, but each plan has its advocates. Usually, a Glass 
factory — as at the World's Fair of 1893 — is a tent-like structure, 
in which the tall chimney is the centre-pole. 




Fig. 162. FASHIONING GLASS SHADES. 



How is this Glass bowl made ? 

A man gathers molten Glass on a rod and holds it over the 



GLASS. 



423 



mold; the pressman clips off the hot metal with shears; the 
mass drops into the mold ; the mold is shut and pressed and 
the bowl is taken out, still red hot. It can now be further 
heated, wrought with a block of wood, and is cooled in a temper- 
ing oven. 

How are the molds made ? 

They are of iron, jointed in many places, so that they can be 
opened without breaking the Glass. When a vase or pitcher 
is smaller at the top than some part of its interior, it has been 
wrought with the wooden block ; or y it has been molded 
another way. 




Fig. 163. MOLDING COMMON TUMBLERS. 

How can Glass be molded in any other way ? 

The rod, or Blowing Tube, which gathered the " metal " in 
the pot, may have been hollow. The blower, a man usually of 
enormous lung-power, by gathering a pound or so at a time, 



4-J4 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

and making many dips, may finally have a heavy load on the 
end of his tube. He may now place this mass in a mold which 
has no core, and by mere lung-power, blowing into the mass, 
may force its outer sides into every crevice of the mold. 

How are the letters and figures made that we see on goblets, 
druggists bottles, ete. 

These designs are engraved, with great art, into the sides of 
the metal molds. As these have been cast, polished and 
hinged at great expense, the artist must make no mistaken 
move with his chisel. Complicated designs sometimes require 
months of labor in the engraver's hands. The cost of the 
molds for a table set is from $2,000 to $4,000. 

What isthc"Gluhey n t 

It is a hot oven or sub-furnace. Here the rough surface of the 
Glass, due to contact with the iron mold, is again fused and 
made brilliant, but at the expense both of the perfect shape of 
the mold and the delicacy of the engraver's tracery. Hence, 
the engraving in the mold must be a "working'' or practicable 
design. 

'.at is the Lee 

The tempering oven, a long structure, hotter at one end than 
at the other. The Glassware goes slowly through, and by this 
course of cooling is made tough. 

What makes Glass milky or untransparent ? 

Inner crystallization, or crystallization on the surface. Good 
Glass is as free of crystals as lampblack. But there are crystal- 
line substances, like quartz, that are transparent. 

Where does the word "Crystal" come from ? 

From the Greek word for ice. The English people have seem- 
ingly attached it to Glass, but Glass is not a crystalline body — 
it is amorphous — that is, without form. 

Why d "Flint Glass " ? 

Flint was once ground to produce the sand, and lead was 
used instead of lime. Lead Glass is much more tough and 



GLASS. 425 

brilliant than lime or window Glass, and is used for lamp chim- 
neys and goblets. 

Is there any difference between Soda and Potash Glass? 

Yes. Soda Glass is the greener of the two. The green that 
we see in thick Glass, is probably the green gas, chlorine, that 
tints the water of the sea. 

How is our Window Glass made ? 

The " metal" is at a great heat in the pots. The gatherer 
takes his long rod, puts a mask on his face, dips his rod in the 
metal, takes it out, rolls it over, dips it again, and may gather as 
much as twenty-five pounds of Glass on the end of the rod. 
With this he runs to the Blower, a Hercules, who stands over a 
long, narrow pit. Over the pit, the Blower swings this mass of 
white-hot metal, which lengthens out into a pear-shape. Then 
the Blower forces air from his mouth into the interior of the 
mass, and it begins to form a great bubble. But blowing into it 
cools it rapidly, and the gatherer must put it into a " glory-hole," 
where it still retains its bubble-like form, and now tends to stretch 
out, as the Blower again swings it over the pit. At last, when 
it has become very large, the Blower is through with it, and 
must rest to get ready for the next "blow." 

How does the Blower get back his rod? 

The great bubble or bottle is laid on a wooden horse, and the 
touch of a cold iron breaks off the rod. The round bottom end 
of the bubble is cut off by the same means. It is now a very hot 
Glass cylinder, nearly as flexible as leather. A touch of the cold 
iron on the cylinder lengthwise splits the glass open. 

How is the Window Glass flattened? 

The flattening-stone is made of warm fire-clay. A workman 
with a block of wood for a u flat-iron, " opens the cylinder and 
smoothes it down as if it were a linen fabric. It is now annealed 
and cut into sheets of the proper size, and it is ready for market. 

How are oar great Glass windows made ? 

Very fine sand, lime and potash are used. The "metal" is 
heated in a great open pot, which is swung away from the fur- 



426 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

nace on a crane, and poured on a smooth metal surface that 
must be larger than the plate of Glass to be made. The mass is 
now " ironed " by rolling over it an iron roller fifteen feet long 
and three feet in diameter. When the Glass is thin enough, it 
looks milky, and can be used for skylights. For windows, it must 
be ground or polished. 

How is the Plate Glass ground? 

On a revolving table. It lies on a bed of plaster of paris, and 
a grinding engine, using sand, takes off forty per cent, of its 
thickness. It is finished with emery and rouge. These finishing 
processes add the notable element of cost that attaches to Plate 
Glass. 

What makes Cut Glass so expensive ? 

Because a workman has ground every pyramidal point on the 
outside of the Glass dish, while a boy has kept the wheel wet 
and supplied emery. The labor of a month may be lost by an 
accident at the last moment. The process is as simple as the 
grinding of an ax. 

Why is Cut Glass valued so highly f 

Because of the extraordinary reflection of light that comes 
from its pyramids. While Glass has not the refracting power 
of the diamond, yet by multiplication, the weaker Glass 
facets combine to give a powerful effect on the eye. But the eye 
needs some training to observe this effect. 

Can Glass be spun ? 

Yes. It is reeled like silk into skeins and these skeins can be 
woven into all kinds of fabrics, such as woman's dresses, hat- 
trimmings, badges, ribbons, etc. Hundreds of these fabrics were 
exhibited at the World's Fair. For use in show-windows, where 
dust ruins the ordinary textiles, doubtless Glass goods of this 
order will assume a certain value. Their danger to the health 
of the people, through the countless particles of Glass that break 
off, cannot be overstated. 

What makes Bohemian and similar Glass dishes so expensive ? 

The costly metals, like gold and uranium, are mixed in the 

melt. The Glass is stretched into wire, and the wire is manipq? 



GLASS. 427 

lated into dishes. Where gold is used, the actual metal employed 
assures a high cost. These delicate and beautiful dishes serve 
badly for ices or hot water, as, by their fabrication, they can 
never be adjusted to sudden changes of heat and cold. It follows 
that the housewife should always wash her own wire-spun 
Glassware, and use it only for fruits and sauces of the normal 
temperature of the room. The finest and best wire-spun gold 
Glass dish is likely to break in two at the touch of ice cream on 
its surface. 

What new thing has been done with Glass ? 

The iron grating necessary for the protection of Glass sky- 
lights in depots and buildings is now cast in the interior of the 
Glass. By this means, the danger of falling Glass in large pieces 
is averted; the life of the skylight is lengthened, and the life 
of the wire netting is made co-existent with that of the Glass. 
In the absence of such an invention, thousands of dollars of 
damage was done by hail at the Manufactures' Building of the 
World's Fair. 

How is this Wire Glass made ? 

The mass of Glass is poured on the table. A steam-heated 
roller irons it flat. The wire netting is laid on the rolled sheet. 
A roller with deep corrugations, on the points of which the wire 
netting would fit, now rolls over the Glass, punching the wire 
far down into the mass, and leaving it ribbed. A smooth roller 
now rolls the Glass smooth, so that the wire is buried in the 
plate. Heat and cold must break this glass, but it is still strong, 
and of course no large pieces can fall. This Glass is offered to 
jewelers as a protection for their windows. Great works for the 
manufacture of this Glass were built at Tacony, Pa., and at St. 
Louis, Mo. At the former place an eight-pot Siemens regen- 
erative furnace melts ten tons of Glass a day. The architects, 
however, hope to abandon the use of Glass in skylights, and the 
inventors are offering wire nettings with amber-like fillings, the 
leading compound being linseed oil. This is called u Trans- 
lucent Fabric. " 

How did the people become familiar with Glass-blowing? 
Through the Bohemian Glass-Blowers. For many years 



428 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



these workmen traveled through America, working before 
spectators who paid an admission fee. With the aid of a blow- 
pipe, the great heat needed was obtained, and white and colored 
glasses were fused together into various shapes, mainly for 
ornament. The transparency of these vari-colored objects made 
them look like fruit-juices, and appealed as well to the sense of 
taste as to that of sight. The objects made up in the beauty of 
their materials, what they lacked in artistic structure, although 
they sometimes attained both grace and beauty. 

Tell me about the Portland Vase ? 

It was found in the tomb of the Roman Emperor Alexander 
Severus, who died, A. D., 235. The vase was made in the follow- 
ing way : A bubble of white glass was formed on the blower's 
tube ; this bubble was dipped in transparent blue, and the twice- 
dipped tube was again put in the white. Thus, the modeler had 
a vase whose walls were of three layers. The outer white was 
now taken off, so that the background of the sculpture was in 
blue, showing white behind it. The trees and other pictures 
stood out in white on the blue-white background. The British 
Museum placed this vase where all could see it, and a drunken 
man wantonly dashed it in a thousand pieces, and was severely 
punished for his act. Mr. Doubleday mended the vase with 
wonderful skill. Wedgewood thought the glass-workers and 
sculptors of his day could make $50,000 in the time they would 
be required to give to such a vase. It was about thirteen 
inches high. 




iaVT.u.T..i.Tj."y. 

1 \1S \L^ \U \IS \ly' V/'\l/'\L^>a/'\l/'\L/ M/V/ 1 

***** paper. ^^ 

fc'TiltTftTdiToTi 





■» « C ^ M ^ 1 »» 



A thin tissue, composed of vegetable fibres, resulting from 
their deposition on wire-cloth while suspended in water. Paper 
is very rarely made of animal fibres. 

What is its use ? 

On Paper man records his history, for transmission to future 
ages. By means of Paper the daily doings of the Old World 
and New World people are immediately known to one another. 

Where does the word Paper come from ? 

From Papyrus, the inner stalk of the lotus. This plant, now 
called Berd y in Egypt, is more rare there than in America. 
Papyrus rolls were made in large quantities at Byblos, hence 
the word Bible, for book. A treatise many thousand years old, 
written on papyrus, was found in the tombs of the fifth dynasty 
of Egypt. The book is now in the National Library at Paris. 
Archeologists disagree to the extent of two thousand five 
hundred years as to its probable age, as vast spaces exist in 
Egyptian history of which there are no monuments remaining. 

/ have seen the lotus-stalk. I do not tender stand how Paper 
could be made from it. 

The long reed was slit lengthwise, and several of the peels 
were flattened out. Muddy water from the Nile or paste was 
spread on the layers. Then strips were laid transversely on the 
first layer. Then the mass was put in a press. Then the sheet 
was beaten with a mallet. Then it was polished with a shell, 

429 



430 'I HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

and rubbed with oil of cedar. The Romans used this paper as 
late as the third century, and had many names for the various 
makes and sizes — including Emporetica for wrapping-Paper. 
Pliny treats the matter in his third book, and Volume Five of 
the French Academy of Inscriptions contains Caylus' disserta- 
tion on the subject. 

Where does our style of Paper come from ? 

From Asia. It was made from cotton, silk and linen. The 
oldest manuscripts of the dark ages are written on Paper that 
came from Asia, mainly from Damascus. Beside charta Damas- 
cena y it was called charta xylina> and several other names repre- 
senting cotton. 

What makes our modem newspapers so cheap? 

The fabrication of Paper from wood-pulp, a process made 
necessary or convenient during the scarcity of cotton at the 
North in our civil war of 1861-5. 

Is the wood pulp process a rapid one ? 

It is. As a test, Mr. Menzel, at his factory, in Elsenthal, 
Austria (for the process has spread abroad), on the 17th of April, 
1896, felled three trees in the presence of a notary at 7:35 o'clock 
in the morning. These trees were carried to the factory, cut in 
pieces twelve inches long, decorticated (peeled) and split. The 
split wood rose on elevators to the five defibrators of the works, 
where the pieces were ground or rubbed into pulp and the pulp 
was sent to the vat to be mixed with its chemicals. The pulp 
then began its journey over the hot rollers of the paper machine, 
and the first finished sheet appeared at 9:34 o'clock of the same 
morning. The experimenters, accompanied by the notary, then 
took a few of the sheets of the Paper to a printing office, two 
and a half miles away, and at 10 o'clock a copy of the printed 
paper was in the hands of the party, so that a standing tree 
was converted into a newspaper in two hours and twenty-five 
minutes, and it was the belief of Mr. Menzel that he could 
shorten this interval by twenty minutes. 

What wood is used? 

The spruce trees of Northern Michigan and similar timber 
regions furnish the wood, and the logs are cut and boomed down 



PAPER, 431 

the rivers after the ordinary lumberman's fashion. The wood- 
pulp mill has its boom on the river. It may make Paper, or it 
may make " lap " — a term, as you see, borrowed from the spin- 
ners. (See Clothes.) Lapis preoared pulp, ready to be used 
in Paper mills at a distance. 

Describe the process of making Wood Pulp. 

The log is sawed into short lengths, and the bark is taken off 
by a kind of veneering machine. The Michigan grinder does 
not split the log. It is held against wide grindstones by 
hydraulic pressure, and water is poured on the stone to prevent 
fire from friction. The pulp falls from the grindstone through 
a screen, and a pump forces it through a collender, leaving it a 
liquid. It is now pumped on the" wet machine." Here it is 
spread on felt, and the water is nearly all pressed out of it. It 
is now lap. Layers of these laps are made in bundles and 
shipped to the Paper mill. 

Can Paper be made entirely of this wood Pulp ? 
No. The grinder has cut the fibre too short, and the pulp is 
good only for " body." Fibre must be added. 

Describe the Sulphite fibre. 

Pieces of wood are boiled with sulphur in a " digester." In 
this way the wood is disintegrated by separating the long fibres, 
leaving them strong enough for the purpose to which they are 
destined. 

What is "Half -stock ?" 

Wood pulp and the sulphite above described are mixed 
together in an oblong tub called the engine. A sizing of resin- 
ous soap, starch or alum may be added to give the fibre more 
value. To make the paper white, either a fine red or blue pig- 
ment is to be added, usually a blue. It is now ready for the 
tank that is to carry it toward the Paper machine. 

What is the Paper Machine ? 

A tank of half-stock supplies a long series of wire-screen, 
driers, ten or more large steam heated cylinders, and a dozen 
small hot iron rollers or ironers called calendars. It is said 
that the largest or longest machine in the world is a Paper 



432 THE FIRESIDE UMVERS1TY 

machine now running at Niagara by power from the Falls. The 
flowing stream of white liquid gradually sinks through the wire 
screen and the vegetable fibres, with their sizing, cling together 
as they are left on the screen. They are continually pressed 
until they become thin enough and dry enough to roll on the 
great "spool" that goes to the newspaper office. The Foudri- 
nier apparatus may be divided into three great parts, beside the 
tank and sand-trap, where the "milk" flows. First, the wire- 
screen, with felt under it, and then with sucking cylinders under 
it, so that the water not only runs through the sieve, but is also 
sucked out with vacuum pumps ; second, the big hot cylinders, 
heated with steam ; third, the little hot cylinders, or calendars, 
that iron and smooth the paper. 

Is this cheap Paper used for Books ? 

Yes. Nearly all the paper-covered novels are thus made, and 
there is a tendency among the makers of the cheap magazines to 
intersperse among the sheets of fine paper on which pictures are 
displayed, sheets of the better order of wood-pulp paper on 
which only text is printed. 

How are rags turned into Paper ? 

They are carefully sorted, beaten in a machine, boiled in 
caustic soda for half a day, picked again by women, and put 
with water in the breaking engines. Wheels armed with knives 
play into other knives, chloride of lime is added, and a whitish 
pulp is gradually made. This is run off into stone chests, where 
it grows whiter, and after twenty-four hours is pressed to take 
away the most of the lime. It now goes to the beating engine. 

What is the Beating Engine ? 

It is a second breaking engine, with finer knives. Water is 
again added, and with it the earths that are to be loaded on the 
Paper, if it is to have a high glaze for printing. The machine 
goes for from four to six hours. China clay and pearl white 
were the earliest loads. It is now ready for sizing and coloring. 

What is a super-calendar or plate Paper ? 

Where paper is to have a glaze of either gelatin or earth on 
its surface or surfaces, it must be submerged in a bath after it is 






PAPER. 433 

made, and must pass over another set of rollers. In some mills, 
it seems, these drying machines extend to a series of more than 
two hundred rollers. The plate Papers, with a coating of 
polished clay on a light rag Paper inside, now carry the modern 
half-tone photographic engraving to perfection with the least 
weight, the greatest beauty and the smallest expense ; and the 
sizers seem to put a velvet polish of almost metallic hardness on 
thinner and thinner stock. 

How is Paper cut ? 

The modern newspaper saves the mill man the expense of 
cutting, but nearly all book work on sized Paper is printed 
from sheets, by the ream. The cutting machines at the Paper 
mills hang four (or more) spools on one cutting machine, reel 
the four together on one cylinder and cut the four sheets at 
once. 

How is Paper water-marked? 

The figures or letters you see in some Papers when you hold 
them to the light, are stamped in by a li dandy" roller while the 
milk is passing across the perforated sucking rollers in the early 
part of the journey through the long Foudrinier machine. 

What is hand-made Paper ? 

A man dips a sieve in the milk or half-stock. Lifting it, he 
has a sediment of fibre. This he tips over on a board, and then 
irons it between rollers. If his sieve have figures woven in it, 
there will be a water-mark in his paper. Hand-made Paper 
nowadays is possibly an affectation. 

What makes the glaze on Writing Paper ? 

After the Paper leaves the first machine — whether it be the 
Foudrinier rollers or a hand-sieve, it is dried or aired, if neces- 
sary, and then it is passed through a bath of nearly thick or 
strong gelatin. As it leaves the bath, it goes through press- 
rollers to wring off the extra gelatin. Now it is slowly dried 
at 80 degrees, and calendared between hot rollers, or it can be 
pressed or rolled between sheets of polished metal. In American 
calendaring machines, one of the rollers in each set may be of 
compressed paper or cotton. 

27 



434 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Does the Paper Machine rale my Writing Paper ? 

No. The rulings on writing Paper and on blank books are 
made by drawing the Paper in sheets under ranks of small hair 
brushes or pencils in a ruling machine. The ink used is very 
thin and weak in tone, nearly always a very light blue. The 
Paper travels on a moving belt or bed, under the line of brushes, 
that drags or lies on the Paper. 

To what great uses, beside the transmission of information, 
is Paper put? 

For decoration, for casting, and for wrapping. The coloring 
and printing of wall-Paper and the casting of Paper into forms 
for walls and ceilings has altered the methods of house-building. 

Is Wall-Paper old? 

Yes. It is a Chinese device. But it was not until late in the 
eighteenth century that Paper could be made in long strips. 
Printing with wooden blocks has been but slowly displaced by 
machinery in England. In America, our wall-Paper has long 
been cheap and beautiful. With its borders, friezes, centre- 
pieces and mantel-backings, it has given a field for the art 
and skill of the paper-hanger. Dark papers should only be 
hung where the light is very strong. Metallic backgrounds will 
be found to endure. 

What are the methods of making Wall Paper ? 

The white stock is made on narrow metal cores, in rolls, 
weighing, say, two hundred and fifty pounds. This goes to the 
wall-paper factory where it is dyed and printed, nearly always 
by machinery, on engraved cylinders. The metal core goes 
back to the paper mill. The wall-paper factories of the West 
have flourished, even outside of the trusts, and have done a cash 
business. 

What great thing did Papier Mache do ? 

This paste of Paper stock, because it could be pounded with a 
brush into the face of a form of newspaper types, enabled the 
publishers to run a number of presses at once. In the old days, two 
days at least were required for electrotyping a form. The papier 



PAPER. 435 

mache process was at last reduced, by a jieam drier, to a few 
minutes. In New York city, a journal has thus been able to 
duplicate its presses until it has printed and circulated 750,000 
copies, each copy having five parts or press-works, in one day. 
The papier mache matrix is only a thin sheet of paper, after all. 
It is bent as it is put in the mold, so that the type metal plate 
cast from it has the curve of the press cylinder. 

What else is papier mache^ used for ? 

Lead-pencils, " straws " for beverages, car- wheels, cigar- 
boxes, buckets, shoes, rims for bicycles, stage furniture and 
architectural decorations. 

Where are false faces made? 

Largely in Paris. Labor costs too much in America. Models 
are made in clay, and from these molds are taken. Sheets of 
wet Paper are wrought into the sinuosities of the mold, the 
mold is dried, and the mask is painted by different painters. It 
is all hand-work. Vast numbers are imported to America. 

What is Straw-Board? 

It takes the place of what was once called paste-board. Its 
manufacture created an interest so great that the American 
Strawboard Company was organized, and for decades its shares 
have been a speculative property on the, exchanges of the large 
cities. The use of straw-board for boxes, packing (especially of 
eggs), transmission of fragile flat articles in the mails, and for 
other purposes, is a characteristic of modern life. Paper of any 
make can be run through paste, doubled and pressed into any 
requisite degree of thickness or solidity. Roofs can thus be 
made. Paste-board and papier mache are but little different in 
their make-up. Card-board, of course, must have a veneer of 
better Paper. 



436 



the Fa reside university. 




Fig. 164. THE POTTER. 







Cbina. 






What was Man's first Dish f 

Probably a sea-shell, beautifully lined with mother-of-pearl. 
This glaze Man has not yet been able to transfer from the shell to 
his most costly porcelains. The early dishes of inland men 
were flat stones, and then stone bowls, gradually worn out in 
the centre by the grinding of grain. 

What People first made White Dishes? 

The Chinese, who closely guarded their methods. It was 
only in the eighteenth century that the Kings of Europe were 
able to make similar wares. 

VI hat is the difference between Glass and Pottery? 

Glass is dealt with while in a melted state. Pottery is molded 
and only half turned to glass, under the subsequent action of 
heat. But Pottery is the most lasting of man's handiworks. 

What is a Glaze on Pottery ? 

A coating, usually of glass. The common white earthen- 
ware dinner plate was molded in clay and then dipped in the 
glaze. Then it was fired in the kiln or perforated oven. 

What is a Flower-pot ? 

It is simply baked clay, porous and without gloss. It is like 
a brick. One of the signs in the Zodiac — the Twins — stands for 
the month Sivan — meaning the making of bricks, the foundation 
of the city, and the Fratricide, or brother-enemies, like Cain and 
Abel, and Romulus and Remus 

437 



438 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Why did the Egyptians put straw in their bricks ? 

The straw burned out in firing, leaving the brick still more 
porous. Thus it was lighter, and would hold more water, 
making it cooler in houses. Where there were no rocks, as in 
Mesopotamia, brick-making must flourish. But the oldest brick 
structures, as at Sakkarah, in Egypt, contain fragments of older 
clay dishes. In 1896, a society of Philadelphians, digging at 
Nippur, found a vase nearly ten feet high, and they believed it 
to be of a date more than 4,000 B. C. 

What device was used in making these Dishes ? 

The potter's wheel. By setting a wheel so that it would go 
round horizontally, and making an axle or pole that would hold 
a sufficient amount of clay, the clay could be whirled rapidly, 
and the potter, with his thumb for chisel, could give a symmet- 
rical outer form to his vessel. Later, the wheel would be put 
where the feet of the potter could turn it. Both these forms 
of potter's wheel are shown in the pictures of the Egyptian 
tombs. The poetic simile " like clay in the hands of the potter," 
used in the Bible, comes out of Egypt, where the god Phtah, 
it was believed, made the mundane egg on the potter's wheel. 

What are our Stone Crocks made from ? 

First, the clay is largely silicon. The glaze may be of salt, 
or a lead glass. 

What is it that makes China or Porcelain? 

The whiteness, hardness and fineness of the earths or sands 
used by the potter. Deposits of these white earths must be 
found before a pottery can make good wares. 

Define some of the commonest terms used by the Potters? 

The paste or body\s the "clay" used in molding the vessel on 
the wheel. Biscuit is clay only once baked, with no glaze — a 
misleading term, as it means twice cooked. Slip is a thin mix- 
ture of " clay " and water, into which the molded article may be 
dipped, or with which it may be ornamented before firing. All 
our China consists of a body and a slip. Enamel is a glaze that 
has been made opaque, usually by tin oxides. All glazes, as 
such, are to be considered transparent, whether colored or plain. 






CHINA. 439 

There are ancient Greek paintings of a potter applying colored 
stripes to the clay on his wheel by means of a stick or brush, 
the wheel whirling meanwhile. 

Were the Ancient Potters expert in molding? 

Yes. They possibly developed the number of patterns far 
beyond the use of modern molders. Their forms were both 
delicate and beautiful in archaic times. Greek sculpture, at a 
later date, lent its triumphs to the potter's art. 

What finally resulted, touching our homes here in America? 

The potter's art was gradually turned toward the ennobling 
of our common table ware. First, a cup and saucer, a plate, or 
a mug, of dainty design and excellent workmanship entered our 
homes at Christmas-time. Then whole tea sets of golden- 
rimmed China were possessed, for state occasions. At last, the 
China offered to the common people is of a kind that would 
have excited the envy of Kings a few centuries ago, and only 
the question of care enters into the problem of owning such 
utensils. 

What did our great-grandfathers eat on ? 

Usually on silver or pewter plate. A few of the people had 
sets of the rude, blue China, made by the Dutch, in imitation of 
the Chinese ware 

How did the Western nations learn of the Chinese Pottery? 

Pere Dentrecolles, a missionary, gives the first European's 
account, in Du Halde's Description of the Chinese Empire. 
Father Du Halde was secretary of the Jesuit Society that sent 
out the missionaries. 

/ am curious to know about this Chinese art as it "was 
practised at home. 

The first porcelain furnace on record was in the province oi 
Keang-Si, the same province that now leads in the manufacture. 
The felspar clay called Kao-lin by the Chinese was called porce- 
lain by the Spaniards, after the porcellana shell. The shell was 
named from porcella, Spanish for little hog. Du Halde did not 
believe that the Chinese words for their blue and white substances 
could be translated. 



440 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 







CHINA. 441 

What did Father Dentrecolles see ? 

At the city of King-te-Ching (near Mount Kao-lin) there were 
three thousand ovens in operation, with great multitudes of work- 
men. The Chinese used two "clays" in each dish — one was the 
white earth found near the mountain of Kao-lin, whence its name. 
The other clay was pe-tzm-ste y and it is not yet known what that 
is. How they prepared their famous, rather ugly, blue color is 
not exactly known. A great lake, three hundred miles in circuit, 
furnished the only water with which the potters could make 
their best Chinaware. The same workmen and clays produced 
inferior Chinaware with the water of other places. No stranger 
was permitted to visit the borders of this lake, which had 
probably deposited the sand called Kao-lin. 

Who was Marco Polo ? 

A Venetian historian, who traveled in Asia five hundred and 
fifty years ago. Following is his passage on Porcelain: "Of the 
City of Tin-gui there is nothing further to be observed than that 
cups or bowls and dishes of Porcelain-ware are there manufac- 
tured. The process was explained to be as follows : They collect 
a certain kind of earth, as it were, from a mine, and laying it in 
a great heap, suffer it to be exposed to the wind, the rain and 
the sun, for thirty or forty years, during which time it is never 
disturbed. By this it becomes refined and fit for being wrought 
into the vessels above mentioned. Such colors as may be 
thought proper are then laid on, and the ware is afterward 
baked in ovens or furnaces. Those persons, therefore, who 
cause the earth to be dug, collect it for their children and 
grand-children. " 

What does the Chemist find in a Chinese Plate of the finest 
kind ? 

Silicon, aluminium, potassium, iron, oxygen, and a trace of 
magnesium. That is, pure sand (of granite), pure clay and 
potash are the main ingredients, at the ratio respectively of about 
seventy, twenty and sixty. Copper and cobalt were both used 
in the blue. (See Chemistry.) 

What is Kao-lin ? 

Granite or other igneous rock has been decomposed by water. 



442 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

The quartz and mica have fallen to the bottom of the stream. 
The fine silicate of alumina and potash has stayed in the water 
longer, settling into Kao-lin wherever there was a pool. At the 
bottom of this pool beds of Kao-lin formed. Kao-lin is the 
hydrated (watered) silicate of alumina. Its atoms are theorized 
as follows : Molecule i — two atoms of aluminium and three of 
oxygen; (this is closely united to) Molecules 2 and 3 — each one 
atom of silicon and two of oxygen ; Molecules 4 and 5 — each a 
molecule of water; the whole molecule giving the following 
formula: Al a 3 .2Si0 3 +2H 2 0. In firing, the water goes out. 
This white earth was sifted and pulverized until it became as fine 
as flour. 

How did the Chinese prepare their Slip for the Glaze? 

With especial care. This slip was Kao-lin with a potash or 
soda in it, so that the soda or potash would melt in the fire. 
The slip was mixed thin and gradually dried to a doughy con- 
sistence. Then it was kneaded and trodden under bare feet. 
Any vegetable substance would burn out, leaving a pore or fault 
in the glaze, therefore, the Chinese place the stock in a damp 
place, where it may ferment and decompose. This occupies 
years, the Chinese believe, and the father leaves his son stock 
enough to last a life-time. 

How were the Blue Pictures put on ? 

By a set of artists, each making a different part of the picture, 
owing to the influences of caste and unionism in the trades. 
When the Chinese began to paint pictures to please the 
Europeans, the effects were still more grotesque, as all the bad 
features of the bad European engravings which furnished the 
original copies were faithfully reproduced. 

Describe, briefly \ the entire Chinese Process ? 

With a quantity of the Kao-lin the Chinese potter "throws " 
his vessel on the wheel, using such molds as may be useful, and 
such hard instruments as will shorten his labors. The article is 
then set to dry. The painters now apply their blue figures and 
landscape. The slip fluid is now blown on with a pipe, as the 
Chinaman loves to spray things, or the article is dipped. As we 



CHINA. 

have shown, it is with the fineness and purity of this slip that 
the Chinaman charges his famous patience. He has ground and 
ground in water the heritage left him by the ancestor whose 




Fig. 166. PORCELAIN— THE DIPPING ROOM. 

memory he so religiously reveres. The new vessel, painted and 
varnished with slip, is now packed in a clay box called a sagger in 
English countries, and the saggers are piled up in the kiln. The 
surrounding of clay in the sagger keeps off the smoke of the 



444 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

firing. The firing goes on for over a day, and the cooling also 
goes forward slowly. Now, if the cup is good, it may be gilded. 
A band of gold leaf may be laid on the upper outer edge, on 
sizing, and the cup must be fired a second time, but in a more 
open kiln with less heat. After the cup comes out, the metal 
band must be polished with a hard stone instrument. Painting 
may be done over the glaze, and much of the early porcelain 
that came from China was thus "improved" by French paint- 
ers, greatly reducing its present value to collectors. 

What were the medieval Western Potters doing ? 

They were making vases and ornamental articles. Famous 
potteries existed on the Balearic Isles, where Majolica ware 
made its fame. Sand from the bottom of a river was used, 
making a red ground work. Sand and cream of tartar or wine 
lees were made into glass (enamel), and the glass might be 
whitened with tin oxides. To decorate the article, the enamel 
could be cut through until red lines appeared. 

But how did our fine, white, tcsefnl dishes get westward 
from China ? 

About 1700, John Schnorr, a wealthy iron-master, riding near 
Clue, found a remarkably fine, white earth in the road, and 
determined to use it and sell it for hair-powder, instead of flour. 
It happened that an alchemist named Botticher or Bottiger used 
this hair powder about 1700, and detected its earthen character. 
He accordingly made a crucible out of it, and to his astonish- 
ment, the crucible turned into Chinese Porcelain. As all Europe 
had long been on the lookout for the solution of the Chinese 
mystery, it may easily be conjectured that the Elector (King) of 
Saxony, listened with pleasure to the revelations of Botticher. 
The Elector himself took an oath of secrecy. A fortress w r as 
built at Meissen, near Dresden, with portcullis and drawbridge. 
"Dumb Till Death " was inscribed in all the workshops, and a 
penalty of imprisonment for life was denounced against any per- 
son who might tell the tale. The white earth was brought from 
Clue in sealed packages under misleading names, and real China- 
ware — the first of the famous Dresden China — began to come out 
of the fortress. At the World's Fair of 1893, the Royal Saxon 






CHINA. 



445 



potteries exhibited their manufactures, but their art seemed to 
have developed into the making of artificial flowers rather than 
table ware. The great Porcelain Porch, in the Imperial German 
Exhibit, outdid the famous Porcelain tower of Man-King in 
China. 

Did Botticher's secret escape ? 

Yes. The Emperor of Austria finally founded a factory at 
Vienna, but it never succeeded fully. To start it, a workman 
escaped from the prison-like works at the castle of Meissen 
about ten years after the first Porcelain was made. The Vien- 
nese royal pottery ran, however, till 1864. 

When did the King of France start his Porcelain Factory ? 

In 1753, when a semi-private factory at Vincennes was removed 
to the town of Sevres, in the suburbs of Paris. The French 
chemists actually prepared an artificial Kao-lin, and used it for 



-m~*-^^ ~ f — 




Fig. 167. GILDING THE PORCELAIN. 



446 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

the biscuit until the German secret came out and French Kao-lin 
was found, in 17 - 

H, -Hn ynadet 

White sand, 60; nitre. 22 : sal:. 7.2 ; alum, $-6 S soda, 3.6 ; 
gvpsum, 3.6. This compound was roasted at a high tempera- 
ture, then ground to a fine powder, and washed with boiling 
water. To nine parts of this mixture, or frit, two parts of cha 
and one of a pipe-clay were added. This mixture was again 
ground, and passed through silk sieves. It was mixed for 
molding with water and soap or size, and in this condition was 
operated on by the potter. 

How docs the Sevres Potter proceed t 

If making a set of plates or saucers, he takes the potter's 
wheel, exactly as the later Egyptians did, and turns it with 
his feet. A mold of a plate is set on the wheel. For 
illustration, let us (incorrectly) suppose it be a plate exactly 1 
the one he is to produce on the wheel. The mold, then, is 
turned bottom upward. On the bottom of the mold, he spreads 
a very thin layer of Kao-lin, and as the wheel revolves, he 
smooths, levels and marks the Kao-lin with a steel template, or 
gauge. All the while, he dips his hands in the slip at his side, 
and holds a sponge wet with slip to the surface he has made. 
The template enables him to make the circular ring and the 
basin or mesa that is inside the ring. Of course, the mold can- 
not be an actual plate, turned upside down, for that would mold 
a ring in the new plate. So we see the potter turns or lathes 
the bottoms of our plates, and molds the upper sides of them. 
There are about two hundred and fifty potters and painters at 
Sevres, and they call their slip " barbotine. ,J The painters are 
all artists of unusual ability. 

U is done with the dry Sevres plate? 

It is put on a wheel or lathe and smoothed with sand-paper. 
A teacup gets its handle at this stage. The little handle is cast 
in a mold which comes in pieces like a glass mold. The little 
handle is affixed to the bowl with some of the slip now used as 
a "lute" or solder. The modeler now takes the vessel or plate 



CHINA. 



447 



and corrects any distortions that he may detect, working with 
modeler's tools. Groups of small statuary are cast or molded 
to this stage. 

Describe the Kilns at Sevres. 

An oven that bakes China or Pottery of any kind, should let 




Fig. 168. PORCELAIN-BISCUIT SCOURING. 

the fire through its bottom — it burns rather than bakes. Tiie 
kilns at Sevres have four stories with three ovens, and all the 



448 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

floors of these three ovens are perforated. The fire of coke or 
white wood is in the lower story. Our "raw" plate and cup 
go in the top oven, where the heat is least. But the raw articles 
are placed in porcelain jars or boxes (saggers), and the boxes 
are piled high in the ovens. The lower ovens are filled with 
articles that are further along in the process. There are windows 
of talc (a magnesium mineral — soap-stone), through which the 
potters observe the effects of the firing, and there are means for 
taking out samples. The fire is kept up for about thirty-six 
hours, and the ovens cool for nearly a week. Our plate and cup 
are now biscuit. 

Describe the Sevres Pate-sur-pate decoration. 

If the painter now take the biscuit and tint it a certain hue, 
and then paint on the tint with the white outer porcelain glaze, 
which we have not yet arrived at, he will give an additional and 
cameo-like ornamentation to his work. The patesur-pate 
(paste-on-paste — that is, Kao-lin on Kao-lin) must precede the 
glaze. 

Describe the Sevres Glaze. 

Felspar and quartz crystals have been ground into powder 
with water. The pure silica (silicon and oxygen) is mixed with 
water. The plate and cup are dipped until they have acquired 
a coating of the white sand (silica) and dried. The vessels now 
go in a kiln where they occupy the lower oven, with a heat of 
over 3,300 degrees. The white sand melts, and getting its alkali 
out of the biscuit underneath, forms a glaze. 

What colors does the Sevres painter put on top of the glaze ? 

Painting over the glaze permits the use of a great range of 
metallic colors. The blues are from cobalt, the turquoise color 
from copper, and the violets from manganese. Different pig- 
ments will endure varying degrees of heat, so that those which 
require the hottest fire must be put on first, and there are three 
such fires — the grand fire, the half-fire and the muffle fire. 

How is the Sevres Gold put on? 

A chemical solution of gold is made, and the metal precipi- 
tates under the firing, and is then burnished. This must be in 







J. a:. A ■■■:.,-.., ^ . 



< 




BURNING MEXICAN POTTERY. 



CHINA. 449 

a special kiln, with the hottest fire, therefore the first of the 
painter's fires. Many of the finest potteries of the world, as in 
Belgium, have gold paper edging that is laid on the plate and 
burned away, or may come away soft. This method has greatly 
beautified the golden decorations of our Royal Worcester and 
Limoges plates, cups and saucers. 

What are the Sevres Painter's difficulties ? 

His colors change in firing. His vessel must undergo at least 
six firings, and where it needs correction, must be fired a seventh 
time, with risk each time of destroying all the work that has 
gone before. 

Where do the French arid Belgian Potters obtain their 
Kao-lin ? 

From Limousin, France, and Cornwall, England. The Corn- 
wall clay merchants proceed as follows : The decomposed 
felspar of granite is found as a stone and broken up, and laid 
in running water. The fine clay that is wanted floats with the 
water, while the quartz and mica sink. The water runs to a 
pool, where the white clay settles. The pool is drawn off, and 
the clay is dug out in blocks and dried. It is then ground into 
an impalpable powder. The powder is mixed with water into a 
dough, which is beaten and kneaded and sifted, like slip. 

How is the Flint prepared y which is often mixed with the 
Kao-lin ? 

This probably represents the pe-tun-ste of the Chinese. The 
flints are burned in a kiln, and thrown red-hot into cold water. 
They are then ground into fine powder. This powder, mixed 
with Kao-lin in water, is dried. In the flint there is or once was 
much vegetable matter. After the kneading, the mixture must 
be cured by time, as the Chinese do it. Slip is made out of this 
compound of flint and silica, with possibly an alkali and a metal 
that is not acid. 

How do the Japanese make such thin cups ? 

They dip the mold in a thin solution of the Kao-lin, until a 
film has gathered of. sufficient thickness to stand alone after 
firing. Their clays are never of the whitest kind. 

29 



450 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

What is the Cloisonne ware? 

The Japanese, after the first firing, make a tracery out of 
brass or copper. This they affix to the clay vessel, so that the 
brass projects in lines. Then the enamel is laid in between the 
lines until the surface is just level, with the brass lines showing. 

Hozv do the modem English and American Potteries differ 
from Sevres? 

Very little. Mainly in the mechanical application of the 
decorations. Let us suppose a plate is to be printed. The 
design is engraved on a copper plate. The pigment (paint) is 
ground fine and mixed with a very sticky gum in oil. The 
pattern is printed, in this oily ink, on tissue paper. If the 
pattern is for the edge of a plate, it has a lace fringe on the inner 
edge and is printed on a strip of paper. The strip is applied to 
the biscuit or clay, face downward, and the scallopy edge of the 
lace enables the operator to conceal the curves in his strip of 
paper. Centre-pieces, of course, give no trouble The paper is 
washed off with water, and the plate is baked, to burn out the 
oil in the color. The glaze goes on top of this. Collectors 
abhor the mechanical decorations, because they can be dupli- 
cated so easily, but many of our handsomest golden decorations 
betray the aid of the lace-paper. Painting under the glaze both 
softens the effect, and makes the colors as lasting as the plate. 

Did America furnish any fine clay ? 

Yes. The early English potters like Wedgewood obtained 
" unaker" from our land. Kao-lin has been found in many of 
the Eastern States and in Nebraska. The calico-bleachers and 
the wall-paper printers use it. The first American bed of Kao- 
lin was found at Monkton, Addison County, Vt., in 1810. In 
1819, Dr. Mead found Kao-lin in New York. In 1827, it was 
found near Pittsburg and a pottery established. A bed in 
Chester County, Pa., was the foundation of the American 
Porcelain Company, under Tucker and Hemphill. 

What did the World's Fair bring ? 

The exhibits of Belgium showed cups and saucers and dinner 
sets of the most admirable translucence and coloration. The 



CHINA, 451 

Republic of France exhibited the vast blue Sevres vases owned 
by the nation. The English dinner plates were somewhat heavy, 
but their golden decorations were possibly the finest. The 
Japanese pottery was the finest in weight, and far the cheapest 
ware ever seen. Of the vases, the French, Saxon, Spanish and 
Japanese competed. For elegance, possibly the French excelled ; 
in prolixity of decoration, the Saxons led ; in patience, the 
Japanese. The large vase, as we see it, is philosophically a 
variation of the oil and wine vat and coffin of Asia into an 
article of pure ornamentation in the Western nations. If that 
be true, its existence as a probable product of future ages is 
threatened. 

What are the modern colors which the Chemist produces for 
the painters of Porcelain ? 

The oxides of cobalt, iron and chromium give the stablest 
colors for painting under the glaze, with great heats. All hues 
can be produced over the glaze, where they wear off. But all 
must be mixed with a flux, and carbonates of soda and potash, 
oxide of lead, borax, nitre, etc., are so used in the pigments. 
Oxide of zinc is used with the other colors to modify their 
shades and tints. For blue and gray, up to black, oxides of 
cobalt. Antimony and lead give yellow. Oxides of copper 
give deep red, or brilliant blues and greens, according to the 
atoms of oxygen. Oxide of chromium produces a soft green. 
Manganese gives violet, and even black. Gold gives a fine ruby 
red. Uranium offers a rich orange. The oxides of iron pro- 
duce all sorts of reds, yellows and browns. Thus, Chemistry 
plays as important a part in the beautifying of our table-ware 
as in the decoration of our cloths and our walls. 

What are Tiles ? 

Thin bricks that were formerly used for the roofs of houses 
and for pavements. The palace of the Tuilleries at Paris, 
occupied a site that was once a tile-yard. We use tiles for man- 
tels and fire-places, and sometimes for fancy pavements. 

How did the ancient brick differ from the modern om 

The ancient brick was a quadrangular plate. It was about ten 



452 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

inches long, eight inches wide, and only two inches thick. Its 
edge was often enameled with brilliant color, even at Nineveh 
and Babylon. 

Do we use Enameled Bricks ? 

Yes. A white enamel is put on the edges of bricks for the 
walls of courts, and for the lower parts of the walls of corridors 
in great buildings. 

Do we use Mosaic Pavements ? 

Very largely. It is said that there are 50,000,000 small pieces 
of baked clay in the Pompeiian mosaic floors of the main Audi- 
torium Building at Chicago. The pavement thus laid is more 
durable than the tile mosaics that were formerly used. 

What is Terra Cotta ? 

These words are Italian for baked clay. In our language, 
Terra Cotta embraces all that class of brick manufactures used 
to cover brick walls, and to surround iron columns. An increas- 
ing quantity of this brick-ware is used for partitions. It is cast 
with two flues in each piece, and is capable of withstanding 
great heat while the air is passing through the flues. It is nearly 
as difficult to thoroughly heat clay as water. 





Hsr''"*r''TSr -Targ et ' ' » '• ' » >' B ^ j e r 1 * fi r~' ]Br Br la M 1 



* 



J^ Matches. 








77<?^ ^^r/^ m his history did Man build fires? 

Not even a trustworthy tradition comes down from a time 
when man did not build fires with comparative ease wherever 
he might chance to be. It is not impossible, however, that the 
sacred fire or lamp at the Temple was instituted for a social 
rather than religious purpose, if the two things were not one. 
The sacred fire may be traced downward to Scotland and 
Ireland, where it was renewed and divided on the night now 
called Hallowe'en — the autumn or harvest festival. 

Who was Prometheus ? 

The Greek story of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven, 
is only a reiteration of far older fables touching the worship of 
trees, or Arborolatry. The universe was a tree. Fire was its 
fruit, and its leaves distilled the water of life. The gods used 
the fire tor themselves. Thus, he who stole this fire was 
accursed. At this time, it may be, the priests alone used fire. 

What did the Egyptians and Hebrews use ? 
The "lamp of fire," as in Abraham's dream. This lamp was 
carried through the wilderness. We see it still at Rome in the 
regia and the temple of Vesta. 

How did the family or gens arise? 

Probably when tribesmen who were not priests were allowed 
to build a hearthstone of their own. The fire on this hearth- 
stone was renewed at Hallowe'en (so-called now), because man 
believed that fire must grow old. 



453 



454 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



Did man become expert in starting t Jus fire f 

Yes. By friction, with sulphurous, iron and potash metals, in 
every clime, man learned to make a spark, and throw that spark 
where it would catch fire. But this operation, especially in wet 




Fig. 169. STARTING FIRE. 



weather, was so difficult that the sacred or ancestral fire (as in 
China and Corea) soon became an established thing, with 
specially deputed lamp-bearers. In Europe, to-day, there still 
remain on many farms, fire-pits, where fuel is furnished all the 
year round, in order that the fire may not go out. The burning 
sun-glass is older than Greece. 

What zv as the commonest fire-starter of the middle ages? 

The flint and steel, a product of the stone age, when chipping 
the weapon brought forth sparks of fire. The spark was cast 
into a tinder-box. 

What was Tinder ? 

Scorched linen or cotton — that is, carbonized fibre. The spark 
caught in the tinder, and would set sulphur on fire, or would 
blaze up itself. The muskets with which Napoleon won most 
of his battles were furnished with flints, and the soldiers of 
Marlborough set off their guns with a punk, as boys now light 
fire-crackers. Percussion caps were patented in 1807. 



MA TCHES. 455 

How do you think the Match evolved ? 

Man obtained fire from burning naphtha wells, from burning 
bog, from burning forests, etc. He saw the sparks fly from his 
flint weapon, and saw them set fire to fibres. He lived where 
sulphur was abundant, and noted its affinity with fire. He set 
sulphur on fire. The axle of his chariot took fire, and he learned 
to rub two sticks or whirl a stick against wood. Finally, sulphur 
was tipped on sticks, at volcanic craters or at mines, and when 
the flint spark flew in the tinder, the sulphur match was touched 
to the spark and blazed. Then it was found that the sulphur 
match could itself be lit by drawing it through sand-paper. 
This was the brimstone match of our grandparents. 

Where is the great variation in the development of Matches ? 

The introduction of phosphorus and potassium and the 
adoption of a bottle match in place of the tinder-box. Phos- 
phorus was put in a bottle, a hot wire was run in the bottle ; 
the phosphorus oxidized on the sides of the glass. Now, if the 
sulphur match were run in the bottle, when it came out it would 
be in flame. The chemists knew this one hundred and fifty 
years before it became useful to the people. Many other 
chemicals would produce the same result on the sulphur match. 
In this way, the match-makers became familiar with the fire- 
making properties not only of sulphur and phosphorus, but of 
chlorate of potash, red lead, nitrate of lead, bichromate of 
potash, peroxide of manganese, sulphide of antimony, salt- 
petre, charcoal, sugar, etc. 

What is the history of Matches in America? 

The Locofocos, or Brimstone Matches, were brought to 
America about 1825. A piece of sandpaper was sold with a 
comb of Matches. 

Uhat was the Locofoco made of? 

The stick was dipped into suphide of antimony and chlorate 
of potash mixed with any gum. The Americans at once im- 
proved the apparatus by putting the matches in a box, and 
pasting the sandpaper on the box. 



456 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Where did the wooden Phosphorus Match of the present day 
co vie from ? 

It was made in large quantities at Vienna, in 1833. Lundstrom, 
of Sweden, in 1855 began the use of red phosphorus, which 
reduced the evils of Match-making. 

What is a Safety Match ? 

Usually an apparatus in which the phosphorus is contained 
on the scratch-paper accompanying the box or on the box of 
Matches. These Matches are particularly obnoxious to persons 
who supply their pockets from match-safes at counters in 
restaurants, etc., and though the use of such Matches is 
economical on that account, still proprietors of establishments 
depending on public good will are slow to set forth the Safety 
Match to the public. 

Do we make our own Matches in America ? 

Yes, and export a considerable number. The making of 
Matches was consolidated into a trust before the war-tax was 
taken off them (in 1883), and the shares of the Match companies 
became one of the leading speculative properties of the stock 
exchanges. 

How are Matches made here ? 

As in Sweden, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and Great 
Britain. The pines, aspens and poplars furnish the favored 
woods. The square Matches are cut from a veneer of wood. 
The round matches are made by forcing a block of wood against 
a steel plate with holes in it. In both processes, the wood has 
been boiled and shaved, as if fruit baskets were to be made of 
it. (See Fruit.) 

What is done with the sticks ? 

They are fed into lathes which arrange the sticks so that they 
do not touch. A frame holds two or three thousand Matches. 
A man holds the frame so that the Matches become hot. Then 
he dips the frame so that the tips of the Matches go into melted 
paraffin. Now they are dipped into the phosphorus mixture. 
When dry they are ready to be packed. The modern round 
Match does not seem to often set fire to houses, even in the 



MATCHES. 45? 

hottest weather, or with the most careless handling. However, 
household match-boxes should always be large and of metal or 
china, and supplies should be invariably kept in metallic or 
earthen receptacles. 

What is peculiar of Matches in France? 

The Government reserves the monopoly and sells it to a Match 
Trust, called La Compagnie Generate des Allumettes Chimiques. 
This Company has twelve factories, and the largest are at Mar- 
seilles, Matches in France are dear, and the French use fewer 
than any other civilized people. 

Was there any Match-cutting machinery at the World's Fair 

of 1893? 

The display in the German Section of Machinery Hall included 
machines that would cut fifteen million splints a day. One 
English factory makes thirty-six billion Matches each year. A 
block of hot soaked wood as long as seven Matches may be 
shaved into a veneer, and the chopping-knives may afterward 
cut out two hundred to three hundred Matches at a blow. 

How many Matches are made ? 

Europe consumes about twelve hundred tons of phosphorus 
in Matches each year. In some nations, each inhabitant seems 
to use seven hundred Matches a year, and America leads the 
other countries. Undoubtedly, the habit of smoking, the growth 
of cities, the high winds of the West and Northeast, and the 
wasteful tendencies of the age, conspire to increase the con- 
sumption of Matches. 




458 



TH^ FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 







Fig. 170. SIR ISAAC NEWTON 




H8tronom\> 










ff%tf / </tf Z£/£ ^£ tf / ?ZZ£^/ f 

If an inhabitant of this little world of ours look upward on 
any highly-starlit night, he is confronted by a portion of the 
grand Universe, — a field far surpassing the utmost conceptions 
of his imagination. Stars of varying degrees of brilliancy 
bespangle the whole concave of heaven, but across the central 
portion of the expanse, stretches a misty zone or band, the cause 
of which is the marvelous multiplicity of light-giving worlds in 
that zone. This Milky Way is found, upon circumnavigating 
our World, to entirely surround us, leading the Astronomer thus 
to determine that the outside Universe is shaped like a cheese 
or grind-stone, and that our position in that cheese or grind- 
stone is nearly central. Looking toward the Milky Way, we are 
looking from the center of the cheese to the rim, and of course 
looking the longest way out of the cheese and encountering the 
maximum number of Stars. Again, looking the nearest way 
out of the cheese, we behold the Stars vastly less frequent. 

Where is the Sim ? 

Centrally, in this Titanic cheese made up of Stars, each one of 
which is incalculably distant from its nearest neighbor, is placed 
our Sun, — a Star undoubtedly of the average size, but certainly 
not one of the largest. The enormous prominence of this fiery 
orb in our eyes, is entirely due to the close view which it is our 
fortunate lot to have of him. 

Has the Sun satellites? 

Yes. Around our Sun swing a large number of smaller and 

459 



400 7#E FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

wholly-dependent bodies. Many of them are Comets, and a 
large group (called Asteroids) are apparently fragments of a 
once great Planet, for they travel around the Sun in close com- 
pany with each other, and present irregular forms. The motions 
of the bodies composing the Solar (the Sun's) System are not 
the regular circles which the pre-disposition to order and sym- 
metry in the human mind would naturally prescribe, but seem 
to be a compromise of the differing impulses of every one of a 
great number of orbs. 

What are the peculiarities of the Comets? 

The tribe of streaming dependencies called Comets, in their 
unceasing course, seem by turns to speed directly at the great 
central luminary, and then, after barely escaping a collision 
with the Sun, to whirl around that body and rush out as directly 
into the unknowable regions of space between us and the nearest 
Star. Of these Comets, the Astronomer knows little. Only the 
" short ends " of their orbits or paths are within the more circular 
orbits of the Planets, and the other ends reach into the un- 
known. A few of these strange bodies have made trips enough 
to establish the fact that their orbits are diminishing in size, and 
that the friction of their rapid passage is subtracting from the 
impetus with which they began their erratic careers. They are 
found also to be the merest gas bags, the air of our Earth being 
sufficient to repel them should they come in collision with this 
Planet. They can easily be seen through with the telescope. 
The tact of their succumbing so readily to friction on account 
of their feathery lightness, has furnished a general law, and it 
is believed that the orbits of all the Planets are gradually 
closing in. 

How are distances computed? 

The paths which the ordinary Planets follow in space, as 
indicated previously, instead of being the perfect circle, more 
closely resemble the ring which the school-boy draws on his 
slate, lop-sided, long and helplessly misshapen. Therefore, in 
the mention of distances which is occasionally necessary here, it 
is to be remembered that true distances in Astronomy differ 
with every difference in the time of the year, month, day, hour, 



ASTRONOMY. 461 

minute and second. The learned Astronomer strikes an average 
for general purposes, and the outcome of general calculations is 
not disturbed by the especial inaccuracy. 

Where is the Moon ? 

In order to speak understanding^ of the Sun, which naturally 
comes first in the Solar System, it is necessary to say that the 
Earth, the third nearest child of the great light of day, is in 
turn the mother of a smaller body (the Moon). This Moon is 
238,000 miles away from us, or nine or ten times around the 
world. A man with our facilities for traveling around the Earth 
could make the trip to the Moon and back after arriving at 
manhood. 

What can be said of the Sun ? 

The magnificent orb which is the most remarkable spectacle 
presented to the gaze of man, is also the very fountain of his 
well-being. In return for the unremitting favor of the Sun's 
nourishing warmth and unequaled brilliancy, man in various 
ages has felt impelled to offer by turns the full measure of his 
willing idolatry, wonder and admiration. The first astonishing 
statement relating to this great luminary is to be made in 
attempting to impress his size upon the mind of the inquiring 
reader. He is found to be 852,000 miles in diameter, or over 
2 >55°,ooo miles around at his equator, or largest belt. These 
figures are so compact as to carry little import to the mind, but 
there are happily, other aids to a proper conception of the fact. 
The Sun, measuring as above, is 1,273,000 times as large as the 
Earth, and, if all the planets were melted into a ball, he would 
still be 600 times as large as their combined bulk, although one 
of the Planets (Jupiter) is 1,233 times as large as the Earth. 

Compare the Earth and Moon with the Sun. 

If the Earth were placed in the centre of the Sun, and the 
Moon were put at her proper distance, 238,000 miles outward, 
she (the Moon) would revolve within the crust of the Sun a dis- 
tance of over 167,000 miles, leaving by far the greater portion of 
the Sun's mass outside of her orbit. In looking from the Earth 
to the Moon, this statement can be profitably borne in mind. 



462 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



The Sun does not weigh proportionately to its bulk. While 
it is 1,273,000 times larger than the Earth, it is only 325,000 
times as heavy. The heat given out by the Sun is prodigious 
beyond all idea of combustion. The successful burning of tons 
and tons of coal in every second on every square inch of 
the Earth's surface would secure an insignificant comparison 
with the flames of the Sun, owing to the superiority 
in size of the celestial colossus. His light is found, by 
measurement, after traveling 92,800,000 miles to the Earth's 




Fig. 171. PARHELIA, OR MOCK SUNS. 



surface, to have the power of 5,550 fine candles placed a foot 
away from the point to be lighted. 

What is seen on the Suns surface? 

While the Sun presents a beautiful, glossy surface to the 
suffering eye which presumptuously peers at his majestic glory, 
still a more critical observation through the telescope discovers 



ASTRONOMY. 463 

a most seething inquietude. Vast gorges and holes into which 
this petty world and all its planetary fellows could be heaved, 
suddenly appear in the surface, and then as suddenly do the 
tormented billows of effulgence sweep together, leaving no trace 
of the event. At the distance of 92,000,000 miles these gaping 
holes for worlds become merely " Sun-spots," and, when not so 
fleeting as to immediately disappear, or where they are perma- 
nent, serve to demonstrate clearly that the Sun turns around 
on its axis, thus showing himself at least to be amenable to one 
of the laws governing less important voyagers in space. The 
fact of his rotation on his axis, which is found to take place once 
in a little over twenty-five days, argues that the Stars also 
revolve on their axes. 

What is nearest to the Sun ? 

Next to the Sun, and inside the circle of Mercury, it is claimed 
by Prof. Watson, as a result of observation of the eclipse of July, 
1878, and corroborative of the claims put forth by Leverrier, the 
French Astronomer, that two small Planets revolve. They can 
only be seen during total eclipses, if at all, and, if they really 
exist, the principal one is to be called Vulcan — a name long 
settled upon. 

Describe Mercury. 

The first and smallest recognized Planet of the Solar System 
is called Mercury. Although our Earth is insignificantly small 
when compared to the large Planets of the System, yet she is a 
big sister of Mercury, he aspiring to but one-third her size. He 
has one of the most devious paths of travel marked out for any 
of the Planets, and is nearly twice as far away from the Sun at 
one point of his orbit as at another, the near approach being 
28,000,000 miles, and the remote withdrawal rising to 48,000,000 
miles. Accordingly, unless some peculiar inclination of his poles 
throws off the heat from his continents when it is the greatest, 
and garners it when it is the least, the extremes of relative 
warmth must be vastly diverse. Mercury's year is eighty-seven 
of our days, and although his yearly motion is more rapid than 
that of any other Planet, yet his rotary motion does not equal 
that of the Earth — his day being five minutes longer than ours. 



4G4 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

To see Mercury is a very rare occurrence, and it is said that 
Copernicus, who set the Planets all going by themselves, died 
without having laid eyes on the coy world, although the most 
of his life was spent in founding the noble science on the basis 
of a reason for all things, and although the ancients had known 
Mercury before history began. If a monster table or floor could 
be conceived as lifted up under the circles which the Earth and 
Mercury describe in space, the table, while allowing the Earth to 
spin and progress around without obstruction, w r ould seriously 
interfere with Mercury's motions — that Planet being part of the 
time several degrees above the table, and the other part several 
degrees below. At just two points, of course, they could come 
on a level, and, with the Sun in the centre, and the Earth at 
that very spot, Mercury would come up from under or go down 
to the table and get directly in line between us and the Sun. 
This is the only chance for an eclipse of the Sun by Mercury, 
and as such " eclipses," owing to the smallness of the Planet, fail 
to eclipse very much, they are merely called transits. The last 
one happened on the 6th of May, 1878. They are, as may be 
inferred, very rare, but are useful to Astronomers in measuring 
the distance of the Sun from the Earth, the problem upon which 
every other calculation in Astronomy depends for its accuracy, 
and with every varying solution of which every previous 
measurement of all things must be modified. 

Where is Venus? 

Between us and Mercury, when we are in line, is the Planet 
Venus, apparently the largest Star in the sky, though always 
journeying down out of the canopy of heaven. The great size 
of this celestial beauty renders it even visible in the day-time, 
and enables it to cast a shadow 7 at night. Like Mercury and 
the Moon, Venus displays changing phases of illumination to 
the eye — that phenomenon being peculiar to those bodies which 
at times go nearer to the Sun than does the Earth ; but these 
phases of "first quarter," "half" and "full Venus," do not 
account for the surprising vicissitudes which characterize the 
appearance of the Planet ; for Venus is really " full " and giving 
her greatest amount of reflected sunlight, when furthest away. 



ASTRONOMY. 465 

The real reason is that the Planet is sometimes wihtin 25,000,000 
miles of us, when on the same side of the Sun, and that, at 
other times, she casts her gentle beams from a distance of 
160,000,000 miles. Thus, a third of Venus in the hand is always 
better to us than the whole of her lustre in 160,000,000 miles 
of bush. Again, to be more explicit, when Venus, as the 
Morning or Evening Star, shines out the most wonderfully, 
she is really only one-third lit up, and were it possible to 
present a full phase this side of the Sun, she would become a 
much more luminous body than our Moon. 

What would the conditions of life be on Venus ? 

The Planet Venus bears many resemblances to the Earth, and 
if inhabited, it is probable that the forms of life would continue 
to bear out the striking physical analogy of the two Planets ; 
although, with the dense atmosphere which surrounds Venus, a 
human being of our average weight would feel as though he 
were walking in water. This density would be very unpleasant 
in many ways. Buildings, for instance, would be found to lack 
the gravity to stand well, and, if the slightest storm occurred, 
the safety of every artificial structure would be threatened. 
Marine life might flourish. Venus, in spinning on her pole, 
topples over to the considerable extent of seventy-four degrees, 
which would subject all her zones to the greatest mutations of 
temperature. The thickness of clouds surrounding the Planet, 
and her brilliancy when near us, prevent a discovery of the 
conformation of the globe itself; and as little is known of the 
land and water of the Planet, as of those of Mercury. The 
Planet is 68,130,000 miles from the Sun, and the length of her 
year is two hundred and twenty-four of our days. Her day 
comes within a few minutes of equaling our own in length. The 
eclipses of the Sun by Venus (transits), could they be correctly 
observed, would be of overwhelming importance to Astronomy; 
but the results which were expected from the transit of 1S74., 
failed to justify the expectations of the World's Astronomers, 
and there was little inclination to expend time and money on 
the transit of 1882. The temptation will not be again presented 

30 



460 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



until an entirely new generation of Star-gazers has arisen, away 
off in the year 2004. The Planet moves in nearly a true circle. 
Venus was undoubtedly the second body which the ancients 
discovered as moving differently from the fixed Stars, the first, 
of course, having been the Moon. 

Where is the Earth? 

The Earth upon which we live is the next member of the Solar 
family. It is called a " spheroid " — which means sphere-like in 
shape, and is understood to cover a multitude of discrepancies, 
in the way of twenty-nine miles of flattening at the poles and 
decided bellyings at the tropics. The law of gravitation estab- 
lished by Sir Isaac Newton (the theory of which was that the 
apple in falling from the tree was attracted to the Earth, and 
in turn attracted the Earth — the greater body rising in exact 
proportion to the superiority of its size) is upheld by many 
phenomena, the most convincing of which is the action of the 




Fig. 172. ORBIT OF THE EARTH. 



ocean when passing under the Moon or Sun. The mighty deep 
really rises up many feet, in obedience to the law which is sup- 
posed to rule the Universe. This complex " shipping" of the 
bulk of the Earth must always remain a great obstacle in the 
determination of the exact shape of our Planet. The Earth is 



ASTRONOMY. 467 

91,430,000 miles away from the Sun. Mr. Proctor estimated it 
as weighing six thousand millions of millions of tons. 

What is the Atmosphere ? 

The Earth is surrounded by a dense atmosphere — not so thick, 
however, as that of Venus. This atmosphere used to be thought 
to extend forty miles upward, but recent discoveries showing 
the inability of light to penetrate a perfect vacuum have hoist 
our air theoretically to a vastly greater height, and there is a 
growing tendency to believe that all space itself is filled with 
something which, if not rarefied air, is nevertheless entitled to 
some recognition greater than it has hitherto received. Our air 
is a mixture (not a compound) of Oxygen and Nitrogen. It is 
invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic 
and ponderable. Within the interstices of its molecules the 
still thinner ether of the Universe is theorized as existing. 

How do we reckon Time ? 

Early in history, the year was fixed at three hundred and sixty- 
five days. As this was nearly six hours too short, the inaccuracy 
soon betrayed itself in the altered positions of the fixed Stars on 
any given anniversary. Julius Caesar added the leap-year day 
every fourth February. As this made the years over eleven 
minutes too long, Pope Gregory XIII, at the end of fifteen 
hundred years, ordered ten days to be left out of 1582 — that is, 
the 1st of September was to count as the nth of September. To 
preserve a greater degree of accuracy in the future, he ordered 
that every year divisible by four was to be a leap-year, unless it 
was an even hundred, in which case it would have only three 
hundred and sixty-five days unless divisible by four hundred. 
Thus 1900, although divisible by four, was not to be considered as 
a leap-year. The year 2000 will be a leap-year. It is the lot of 
our Planet to have one of the elliptical lop-sided paths around the 
Sun, and while the Earth returns to a given point in precisely 
the time allotted, still the variations meanwhile are quite marked. 
Thus our clocks, made to go regularly, get far out of the way at 
certain parts of the year. A clock which will tally with the Sun 
every 1st of June, will be fifteen minutes slower than the Sun- 
dial on October 27th, and fifteen minutes faster February loth, 



4G8 7 H E FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What makes the Seasons? 

The Earth, instead of spinning uprightly, topples over sixty- 
six degrees and thirty-two minutes. This characteristic of the 
Earth condemns the poles to experience alternately six months 
of day and six months of night. As the top of the Earth leans 
toward the Sun on one side of the path, the Northern part of the 
World will be lit far over the pole, and the Southern part will 
be denied light to the exact extent that the Northern pole gets 
more than its share. Then (as the Earth always leans the same 
way) when the other side of the path is taken, the situation is 
reversed. The most brilliant of electrical displays, however, are 
said to illumine the long nights of the polar regions. During 
the period of constant light, the Sun travels around the heavens. 
During Summer, in the Northern half of the Earth, the Planet 
is in the portion of her path furthest from the Sun ; but the fact 
that the Northern Hemisphere then sits up straight against the 
Sun, renders his rays highly effective in raising the temperature 
of our atmosphere, which otherwise would be almost unendu- 
rable. The difference in directness more than counteracts the 
natural effects of greater distance. In Summer, the distance of 
the Earth may be represented by the figure 61, while the figure 
59 expresses the distance in winter. The Earth travels faster in 
Winter than in Summer, in the same proportion. " Winter" 
here means Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. We get our 
most upright position to the Sun in Summer. But the Earth is 
then in the tip end of her egg-shaped path around the Sun, and 
the Sun is away off in the further (big) end of the "egg n two- 
thirds of the distance towards the shell. Now, of course, it 
takes a long time to go to a long way, and all the time that we 
in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted up snugly catching the 
rays of the Sun, and complaining of warm weather, the people 
in the Southern Hemisphere, say at Cape Horn, are tipped away 
from the Sun, and their Winter is as long as our Summer. When 
the Earth gets around to the big end of her orbit, then we are 
tipped away, and, although closer to the Sun, still experience 
Winter. But it does not take so long to go a short distance as a 
long one, and in fact, the Earth goes faster just because it is 
nearer the Sun — so our Winter is soon over, while the Southern 



ASTRONOMY. 469 

Hemisphere, tipped up against the Sun when the very nearest, 
roasts in Summers as unpleasantly hot as the Winters are 
unpleasantly cold and long. We plainly have the best of the 
bargain here in the Northern half of the World, and fortunate it 
is that so much of the land lies to our side of the equator. 

Has the Earth other movements ? 

There is much more snow and ice at the South pole than at the 
North pole, and the excess of accumulations at the former pole 
may account for a slight movement (mutation) which the North- 
ern pole makes around a center. The heaviest body or portion 
of a body is pulled the hardest by whatever attracts it. Ocean 
currents and winds may greatly ameliorate the weather in some 
parts of the Southern oceans. The solution of the Earth's motions 
is always complicated by the fact of her being accompanied by a 
Satellite. The center of the Earth's motion is not at the center 
of the Earth, but at a point between the Earth and the Moon, 
where, if hung in scales, the two orbs would balance each other. 
So the Moon in revolving around the Earth, also forces the Earth 
to revolve about their common center. These movements can 
be easily demonstrated on any ball-room floor, when two people 
join hands and swing around. If the parties are of the same 
weight they will revolve equally, but if the lady be much lighter, 
as frequently happens, she will find herself traveling through 
the air much more rapidly than her partner, who still describes 
a small circle in the air with his head. The path of the Earth is 
called " the Ecliptic" and it is the mutual center of the Earth 
and Moon which journeys upon this course and not the center 
of the Earth. 

What is inside the Earth ? 

The Earth, like all the Planets, having evidently been in a high 
state of heat when thrown from the Sun — if that event ever took 
place — has cooled down sufficiently to form a solid crust at its 
surface. The relative thicknessof this crust, however, compared 
with the size of the Planet, does not equal the thickness of an 
egg-shell, and when the natural conjecture is raised that the 
mighty mountains of Asia might crush in this weak crust, the 
answer is returned that no mountain exceeds a height of live 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

miles and that an ordinary orange has greater inequalities of 
surface in proportion to its size than has our World. Our moun- 
tains are folds in the shrink!: ;st of the Earth. Upon 
descending into the Earth the heat rapidly intensifies. A: thii 
five miles almost everything is in a state of fusion. At one hun- 
dred miles, absolutely nothing has withstood the enormous power 
of the smothering fires, and platinum and all other of the hardest 
of earthly substances have been reduced not only to fluids, but 
even to gas 

What is the Moon ? 

The Moon, though frequently appearing as large as the Sun. 
is still only large by reason of her unequaled p ity to us, 

she beinor i n realitv bv manv times the smallest of the Worlds 
exposed to casual obsei :.. Her diameter is only a little over 

one-quarter that of the Earth. She revolves around the Earth 
in twenty-nine and one-half days on an average,, and has slightly 
increased her speed since the birth of Astronomy. Were the 
Earth stationary, the Moon would go around quicker, and we 
should have a new Moon every twenty-seven and one-quarter 
s ; but the Earth is going at the rate of sixty-eight thousand 
miles an hour, which accounts tor the additional two davs and a 
quarter. The Moon, so far as Astronomers know — and they know 
more concerning her than of any other celestial body — passed 
the present condition of the Earth aces ago. To an observer of 
the slow " processes of the Suns '"' it would seem that a thousand 
or a million years were very much the same thing ; there is no 
criterion for human criticism other than senses, which are ear 
deceived even in matters of the most trifling nature in iay 

life. 

What :.. -e Mr. Procters conclusions? 

When the great balls of chaos which are now the Earth 
and Moon were, in the stupendous phrase of Milton, "hurled 
headlong flaming through the ethereal s :h hideous ruin 

and combustion/"' the heat acquired by the larger body would 
be great in proportion to its size. The mass of vapor which was 
to form the Moon at a later period, would not pass through space 
with the friction which the Earth would encounter. Th 






ASTRONOMY. 471 

bodies would then start in their paths as members of the Solar 
System with unequal intensities of heat. But, even if they were 
both of the same heat, the smaller would part with its heat the 
more rapidly, because the volume or contents of the larger ball 
would exceed the volume of the smaller ball in a greater degree 
than the surface of the larger ball would exceed the surface of 
the smaller. Suppose the big ball have a diameter twice as long 
as the same line run through the little ball, its surface would 
then be four times as great as that of the smaller ball, but its 
contents would then be eight times as great. Therefore, if the 
heat were of the same degree in each, the larger ball would lose 
at the rate of four times the loss of the smaller, but would have 
eight times as much to lose. It is thought the Moon can be seen 
closely enough in the great telescopes to detect volcanic action 
if it existed in greater external display than on the Earth, and 
therefore it is thought there is no such commotion there. So, con- 
sidering the advantages possessed by the Moon in cooling off, and 
the lesser intensity of the heat which she would naturally have 
acquired in her original propulsion, Mr. Proctor, the Astronomer 
referred to, believed that the Earth would not arrive at the 
present state of the Moon for the interval of one billion, five 
hundred million years, and that is, mind you, upon the theory 
that they both were propelled at the same time, but one happened 
to be smaller than the other. The Moon seems to have no atmos- 
phere at all. There appears to be nothing of a fluid character 
left on its surface. Chasms appear in its crust, showing that it 
is shrinking as its inside cools, and that the crust has to fold. A 
kettle of mush, when boiling and quite thick, throws up craters 
which leave its surface presenting nearly the same aspect as that 
of the Moon when seen through a good telescope. Mr. Proctor 
spoke of the curious idea, that perhaps these craters or * 4 roly- 
boly-holes" were made when the Moon was soft, by the fall oi 
Meteors overcome by the attraction of the Moon. 

What arc the Moon's temperatures 

The Moon lias a rotary or spinning motion on its poles, and, 
Strangely enough, this motion is exactly twenty-nine and a halt 
(Jays in turning the Moon once. This leaves the i.wc of the 



472 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Moon as we see it, never varying at all — the other side being 
entirely unknown to us, and never having been inspected by 
mortal eye. The Moon, therefore, has the longest Solar day of 
any globe this side of Uranus. Portions of the Earch have but 
one day and night each year, but the Moon experiences a true 
day of two weeks, and a night as long, without going to the 
poles to get them. This extraordinary continuance of sunlight 
raises the temperature of the Moon beyond anything we endure 
on Earth, and the long lapse of night effects a change to a point 
inconceivably below the severest rigors of our Arctic midwinter. 
It is credibly guessed, by the use of the newest scientific inven- 
tions, that the difference in temperature at any one point between 
" midnight" and "noon" of the Moon's fortnightly day, equals 
five hundred degrees of centigrade. The centigrade (one hun- 
dred degree) thermometer calls the freezing point zero, and the 
boiling point one hundred degrees above zero. The Fahrenheit 
zero is thirty-two degrees below the freezing point and two hun- 
dred and twelve degrees below the boiling point. The difference 
in a degree of centigrade and a degree of Fahrenheit is as one 
hundred to one hundred and eighty, or five to nine. We have 
then the result that it is nine hundred degrees of Fahrenheit hot- 
ter at " noon ° on the Moon than it is at " midnight." On the 
Sea of Aral, in Asia, in Chicago and at Ballarat, Australia, three 
of the most variable regions on the Earth, the greatest known 
difference is from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and 
thirty-two degrees, the higher figure of variation having been 
recorded in Chicago. At Madras, India, there are only about five 
degrees of yearly variation on an average, which, however, 
would place the extremes further than five degrees apart. 

Is there life on the Moon ? 

Of course the feeling which always most urgently animated 
Astronomers, was to use the greatest of their aids (the telescope) 
to discover life upon the little Planet above us. Although the 
use of great glasses has drawn the Moon within two hundred 
and thirty miles of the human eye, and although an aqueduct, a 
bridge crossing a chasm, or the domes of a city, could have been 
discerned had they existed, still not the slightest vestige of 



ASTRONOMY. 473 

animation has the cold, sterile surface of the Satellite ever 
vouchsafed to Man, and with later years, the idea just alluded 
to, that the Moon has survived the period *of vegetable and 
animal life, has taken hold of Astronomers' minds, and has 
robbed the subject of much of its previous piquancy. It is, too, 
reasonable to conclude that the Moon, being a smaller body 
than the Earth, and having turned hard and cold, should have 
gotten through with all the phenomena of cosmic experience 
which pertain to life and growth. 

Suppose a collision of Earth and Moon took place. 

Should the Moon suddenly lose the impetus which forces her 
along in her complex orbit, and then obey the attraction of the 
Earth and begin her portion of the direct journey which the two 
bodies would make ere the collision took place, she would attain 
a motion before reaching the Earth, which when suddenly 
converted into heat (as it would be) would turn a whole continent 
of the Earth into a sea of raging fire. 

How would the Earth look from the Moon ? 

If there were inhabitants on the Moon, they would never see 
the Earth if they lived on the other side, and the Earth would 
maintain a certain fixed place in the Moon's heavens, although 
varying greatly in its illumination. When it was fully lighted, 
it would look much larger than a cart-wheel. One curious 
effect in a World without an atmosphere, would be the instan- 
taneous darkness which would envelop the people the moment 
after sunset — no such thing as twilight being possible. 

What of the Moon's motions ? 

The practical problem of telling where the Moon will be in 
our heavens at any given time, is perhaps the most difficult one 
ever attempted by mathematicians. Owing to the imperfect 
data upon which they are forced to figure, the results are still 
slightly at variance in different countries. A more correct 
measurement of the Sun's distance will, one of these days, make 
a great many obstacles disappear from the rough path oi the 
investigator. 



474 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 



Where is Mars ? 

Outside of our circle, and at a distance of 139,312,000 miles 
on an average, is the Planet of Mars, one of the prominent 







Fig. 173. MARS. 



ASTRONOMY. 4?5 

objects in the heavens. Up to this point the Planets, as we have 
proceeded from the Sun, have gradually grown larger; but this 
one, although nearly 50,000,000 miles further from the Sun, 
drops in size one-eighth the bulk of the Earth, being but 4,920 
miles in diameter. After the discouraging results of the astro- 
nomical exploration of the Moon, men turned their attention to 
this Planet, the fact of his frequently passing the Earth when 
he was nearest the Sun, and best lighted up, greatly favoring 
their attempts. The fruits of whole lifetimes of observation have 
made us thoroughly acquainted with the contour of that globe, 
and certainly furnished us with romantic food for speculation. 
There is the most striking likeness between the Earth and Mars. 
Continents and oceans are plainly discerned, and the waters 
have a greenish hue* The continents surround the Planet, how- 
ever, in belts, so that a railway journey entirely around would 
be practicable with our inventions. Snow is seen to remain 
perpetually at one of the poles, now increasing in quantity in 
winter, and now nearly all melting when the pole tips towards 
the Sun. Mars* day is twenty-four hours thirty-seven minutes 
and twenty-three seconds in length. But it must be very cold 
at Mars, unless the atmosphere, which is dense, is sufficient to 
modify the natural frigidity. All the oceans, some Astronomers 
claim, should be frozen over, though that would explode the 
theory of the polar snow decreasing periodically. The year of 
Mars is much longer than ours, he making his circuit in nearly 
six hundred and eighty-seven of our days. He is also erratic in 
his trip around the Sun, sometimes being 26,000,000 miles nearer 
the Solar centre than at other times. His distance from our 
world changes all the way between 48,000,000 miles and 231,- 
612,000 miles, greatly affecting his appearance as a Star in our 
skies. The Sun looks, to the inhabitants of Mars, if there be 
any, only one-third as large as it does to us. They never see 
Venus or Mercury. The Earth and its Moon, however, give 
them a beautiful pair of ornaments for their evenings, probably 
forming two Stars which far outshine all others in their heavens, 
the two constantly varying in distance from each other, ami yet 
never separating further apart than the Sun's disk appears in 
width to us. The Astronomers have mapped the w hole of Mais, 



4TG 



J HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



drawing every continent, strait, ocean, bay and peninsula. In 
1S93, tne theory was advanced by Winslow, of Copenhagen, that 
Asteroids, in striking Mars, have ploughed out the canals. 

Has Mars any Moons? 

One of the strangest things to be recorded concerning the 
progress of Astronomical science is the fact that, during the 
long ages since the time of Galileo, notwithstanding the exertion 
of the utmost patience and vigilance in the search, Mars, until 
the year 1877, was declared to be unattended by any Satellite. 
In that year an American Astronomer really astonished the 
scientific world with the announcement that two little Moons 
travel in company with the War Star. These two Satellites of 
Mars necessarily possess the noticeable characteristic of having 
the smallest orbits know T n to man. They have been seen since 
1877. 

What was Bodes Law ? 

Outside of Mars travel tne Planetoids, called perhaps more 
frequently, Asteroids, the " oid" meaning " shape " or " form " 
in its Greek clothes, and the "aster" being taken from the 
Greek word for "star." In 1778, Professor Bode, of Berlin, 
published a conjecture which has since attracted so much atten- 
tion as to be called Bode's Law. He claimed to have a mathe- 
matical guide for the arrangement of the Planets of the Solar 
System, and prophesied the final discovery of outside Planets 
which would continue to carry out the conditions of his rule. 
He claimed that if the numbers o, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, each of 
which, after the second, is twice as great as its predecessor, were 
placed in a row, we could, by adding four to each one, get the 
ratios of distances of the Planets from the Sun. But there was 
a hole in his theory, though the discovery of a Planet exactly in 
that hole would set everything right. Thus, with Bode's law, 
we had the following proportionate distances from the Sun. 
The real proportions are indicated below the names : 






4 
Mercury. 

3-9 


7 
Venus. 

7-2 


10 

Earth. 

10 


16 

Mars. 

15 


28 


52 

Jupiter. 

52 


100 

Saturn. 
95 


196 

Uranus. 

192 



ASTRONOMY. 47? 

Prof. Bode urged Astronomers to renewed efforts to discover 
a Planet in the place occupied by 28, which would complete the 
scheme and furnish a beautiful mathematical expression of the 
symmetry of the Solar System. Thus, the Earth is marked 10, 
while Mercury is marked 4. We multiply 10 sufficiently to get 
our distance, say nine times, calling it millions — ninety millions, 
or to be closer, 9^ times — 92,500,000; then by multiplying 
Mercury's figure the same way, we get 38,250,000 miles, at which 
distance Mercury frequently travels in his circuit. So with all 
the other figures. 

How were the Asteroids found f 

Soon after this, six Astronomers divided the heavens among 
them systematically, and, in a short time, the Italian Piazza, 
found a u Star" which moved, and therefore was a Planet. Its 
position corresponded with Bode's law. The Solar System 
being entirely harmonized by this discovery, the astronomical 
world settled back in satisfaction, and was soon startled beyond 
all precedent by Olbers' discovery of a second planet revolving 
in nearly the same path occupied by Ceres, the first one. This 
was a complete anomaly in the Solar System, and perplexed the 
scientists. Finally, after profound thought, the theory was 
formulated that these sister-Planets might have once formed a 
single World, and, if so, it was probable that other pieces might 
have been projected into space at the time of the great explosion 
or disintegration. This again set the Astronomers actively at 
work, and the list of these little strangers has since been swelled 
to over one hundred and sixty, discovered by thirty-three Star- 
hunters, and an American, Professor Watson, formerly of Michi- 
gan University, in the town of Ann Arbor, having found no less 
than twenty-seven up to 1879. These Asteroids were all very 
small, the two largest measuring only two hundred and twenty- 
eight miles in diameter, and many of them being less than fifty 
miles in greatest thickness. During the next two decades, the 
number was enormously increased by the photographic process. 
In 1893, for instance, Charlois, of Nice, and Wolf, of Heidelberg, 
located forty new Asteroids. Their Orbits present t ho most 
irregular outlines encountered in the Solar Planetary System. 



478 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

The inclination of their orbits also — that !s, the going above and 
below a table on which the earth would * r play " in its circlings 
around the Sun, as explained in the case of Mercury, is marked. 
Venus goes nine degrees above and below the table, whereas, 
if she reached ninety, she would go arcund a table that was set 
over the first table on its side, with its top vertical to the top of 
the first table, transferring the supposed Sun also to the center 
of the second table-top. Now, the height reached by some of 
the Asteroids is forty-two degrees, so the reader may judge of 
the difference between our ecliptic and their orbits. They are 
not believed to be spherical in shape, the light which they 
reflect being sometimes twice as great as at other times. The 
summer of the northern hemisphere of Ceres is twice as long 
as the summer of the southern hemisphere, which is owing to 
the excessive leaning-over of the Asteroid, like a top nearly " run 
down," together with the great eccentricity of its path. The 
nearest of the Asteroids is about 201,000,000 miles from the Sun 
on an average, and the furthest 313,000,000 miles. The liberty 
they take with these average distances, however, would give one 
very little idea of their position at any given time. There is one 
portion of each of their orbits which seems to furnish a point 
where they might all have started, supposing the explosion of the 
Planet which might have formed them. The Asteroids which 
approach this spot the most coyly, might have been projected the 
furthest by the shock of the f ulmination, and readily accepted the 
devious orbit thus forced upon them. All the orbits are inter- 
laced, and one ring would lift all the rings. They were at first 
named after the goddesses of mythology — Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, 
Juno, etc. — but are designated among Astronomers by the 
figure expressing the order of their discovery inclosed in a 
circle, thus, Ceres ( 2.) The unaided eye has rested upon only 
three of them, their precise location being necessarily fixed upon 
first, and the Asteroids presenting only the faintest specks of 
light. The most powerful telescope has never succeeded in 
giving them disks to the eye, as the other Planets present when 
observed with an instrument. They must be, as the celebrated 
Olbers guessed, the fragments of a broken World, and the 
smallness of their combined influence in turning other Planets 



ASTRONOMY. 479 

out of their circles, would perhaps indicate that the original 
Planet was not a very important affair — scarcely as large as 
Mars. Observations made upon Victoria (No. 12), in 1889, were 
computed finally in 1893, an d the distance of the Sun from our 
Earth was placed at 92,800,000 miles. The mass of the Moon 
was thus reduced one percent., and all other accepted measures 
disturbed. 

Where is Jupiter ? 

The Planets we have previously spoken of have all hardened 
down into solid bodies, cold and opaque at their surfaces. Now, 
beyond the Asteroid family, at a distance of 475,692,000 miles 
from the Sun, on an average, swings a ball of igneous matter, 
still all aflame, and able to cast rays of light of its own were the 
Sun to be taken away. This Planet is the largest in the Solar 
System, being equal to over 1,200 balls like the Earth melted 
into one. His diameter is 85,390 miles, but his weight, he 
being so greatly heated, does not of course, equal that of the 
Earth, all things being equal. While he is 1,200 times as big as 
the Earth, he is only three hundred times as heavy. He travels 
more slowly than the Earth, as do all Planets outside of her 
orbit, and completes his year in something less than twelve of 
ours. Jupiter's motion on his axis, however, is extraordinarily 
swift, the whole rotation of his bulk being completed in ten of 
our hours. Four Moons revolve around the great Planet, all of 
them as large as our Satellite, and the heavens of Jupiter must 
be a rare sight indeed. About 9,000 Solar and lunar eclipses 
vary the celestial panorama. 

What did Jupiter s little Eclipses teach us ? 

It was through the eclipses of Jupiter's Moons that the speed 
with which light travels was first ascertained. These eclipses 
were found to vary from the time set for them. In the period 
when the Earth and Jupiter traveled nearest each other, the 
eclipses happened eight minutes too soon, and when the Earth 
was exactly opposite, or furthest from Jupiter, the same 
phenomena were just eight minutes too late. This gave the 
learned men reason to hope they could finally account for the 
discrepancy, and Von Romer at length proclaimed that the 



480 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

difference was owing to the fact that the light had to travel 
180,000,000 miles further to reach us in one place than in 
another, and that, therefore, it must be true that light would 
travel that vast distance in sixteen minutes. This theory has 
survived the most careful investigation. The Moons go around 
Jupiter, supposing him to be stationary, in one and three- 
quarters, three and one-half, seven and sixteen, and three- 
quarters days respectively. One of them is shaped like a watch. 
Another is egg-shaped. As in our case, Jupiter is traveling, 
and some time must therefore, in like manner, be added to each 
of these periods, though not so much as is added to our Moon's 
proper time, for his speed is less than our own. Jupiter's day 
is measured by watching and noting the time of re-appearance 
of certain spots on his disk, as is done with the Sun. 

What is the appearance of Jupiter's disk ? 

Jupiter stands nearly straight on his poles, his inclination 
being only three degrees. This should exempt him from the 
vicissitudes of heat and cold to which we are subjected, but his 
surface presents the appearance of suffering the most violent 
cyclones. Great belts of flame travel across his disk at a terrific 
speed, and this far-off World, whose condition should be so very 
peaceful, seems in reality, to be a sort of celestial dervish, the 
author of his own woes, in this manner of furious turbulence 
comparing much more closely with the Sun than with the Earth. 
The spots and bands seen on his face, exhibit all the eccentrici- 
ties of Sun-spots, when once it is considered that the heat by 
which they are created is much less intense. Jupiter pre- 
sents to the human eye the appearance of a beautiful Star, 
passing to all parts of the skies, and like Venus, capable 
of casting a shadow by his own unaided light. He has been 
known since the dawn of tradition. 

Where is Saturn ? 

As we travel off into outer space, as seen in Bode's law, the 
distances more than double between each station, and when the 
Planet Saturn is reached, we are eight hundred and seventy-two 
millions, one hundred and thirty-five thousand miles away from 
the Sun. We are now at the confines of fhe Solar System, as 




[R JOHN FREDERICK WM. HERSCHEL, P. H 



ASTRONOMY. 481 

known for thousands of years, and it is little wonder that the 
ancients were content with a sweep of such majestic proportions. 
The sister-World which journeys in that cold region, has been the 
cause of endless speculation for nearly four hundred years. 
Around the body of the Planet, and evidently moving by itself 
about the mother-World, is a system of rings one hundred and 
seventy miles in diameter and forty thousand miles broad, 
which would leave the inside or the inner ring lifted ninety 
thousand miles into Saturn's heavens. These rings are so thin, 
as to be entirely invisible when presented edgewise to a large 
telescope, and therefore disappear during that portion of his 
circuit in which such a position is assumed toward the Earth. 
Their entire thickness has been estimated as low as fifty miles. 
Saturn is one of the giant Worlds, being seventy-one thousand 
nine hundred and four miles in diameter, which is a volume 
three times as large as all the Planets, if Jupiter were excepted. 
He is seven hundred times as large as the Earth, but a bucketful 
of Earth would weigh as much as seven or eight bucketfuls of 
"Saturn/* the whole Planet weighing but ninety times as much 
as our World. The long period of twenty-nine and one-half of 
our years is required for one of his revolutions around the Sun. 
but, as is the case with Jupiter, his daily rotation is extraordin- 
arily swift, the whole day being finished in ten and one-half 
hours, implying a speed at the equator twenty times as great as 
ours. 

What is thought of Saturn's Rings ? 

The latest guess of our Astronomers is, that the rings of Saturn 
are composed of minute satellites, traveling with immense velo- 
city, and making a ring much as a burning stick brandished in 
the air will convey the same false impression. The rings r 
look at the surface of Saturn, much as our Milky Way looks to 
us, and the inhabitants of Saturn, if inhabitants can exist in the 
unmistakable heat of that body, may think as little of their rings 
as we do of our starry peculiarity (though they also have the 
Milky Way). The rings are believed by some theorists to be 
solid enough to cast a shadow on the surface of Saturn. Owi 
to the igneous condition of Saturn the difficulty oi gain 

31 



482 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

exact information from incessant study of his phenomena is 
great, for the observer is not sure that the measurements which 
he obtains will not be entirely changed by the sudden shifting 
of gases or clouds upon the Planet's surface. It is the natural 
result of a study of these great Planets to class them rather with 
the Sun than with hardened Worlds like ours, and, as it may be 
that the glorious brightness of the Sun is only the production 
of an envelope surrounding a dark body, upon which we gaze 
through a chasm in the covering, so, too, the vast bulks of these 
outside members of the System may be illusory, and only the dis- 
guises of much smaller masses of creation. The Planet, or its 
atmosphere, is seen to have a flattening at its poles of four thou- 
sand miles, which is sufficient to greatly alter it from a spherical 
form. In the solemn sweep of this winged colossus around the 
Sun, the whole distance of our puny Planet from its Solar cen- 
ter is absorbed in a variation of his mighty course, as he is some- 
times one hundred million miles nearer the luminary which 
attracts him than at others. The Sun at Saturn has dwindled 
to the appearance of a Star twice the size of Venus. 

Has Saturn any Moons ? 

Saturn is attended by the large number of eight Moons, one 
of which, Titan, is a good deal larger than our Moon, and seven 
of which are a good deal smaller. Owing to a peculiarity of 
their orbits, they seldom come between the Sun and Saturn, and 
therefore do not furnish Astronomers with interesting problems 
and aids to further knowledge, such as are afforded by Jupiter's 
lunar eclipses. Until telescopes are made ten times more pow- 
erful, at least, most of the more familiar observations made in 
books regarding Saturn will be principally guess-work, but with 
favorable chances for their ultimate corroboration. 

Where is Uranus ? 

On the 13th of March, 1781, Sir William Herschel discovered 
another member of the Solar System. Thinking it at first a Comet 
he so announced it, but further study of its peculiarities, showed 
it to be a World thirty-three thousand miles in diameter and 
going around the Earth once in a man's lifetime, if he live 
eighty-four years. The name of Uranus was finally given to the 



ASTRONOMY. 483 

waif, after calling it Georgium Sidus (George's Star, after 
George III) and Herschel. The love of symmetry in the human 
intellect was too strong to depart from the mythological series 
of names, and, though the euphonic properties of the word 
"Herschel" strongly resemble in smoothness the Pagan names, 
yet the slightest infraction of the custom has not .been allowed, 
and the unsought honor has been taken from Herschel. No spot 
on Uranus has been seen long enough to give an indication of 
the length of his day, but it is found that his inclination is so 
great, that instead of spinning around the Sun, he rolls. Of 
course, in space, there is no difference between " spinning" and 
"rolling;" a Planet would theoretically be as likely to do one 
thing as another, but this is practically the only Planet which 
departs from the family fashion of spinning on its pole. It is to 
be understood that Uranus does not roll like a ball, but like a ball 
with a knitting-needle stuck through it hanging by the needle 
between two tracks and rolling down the tracks as fast as the 
knitting-needle revolves on the tracks. The distance of Uranus 
from the Sun is one billion, seven hundred and fifty-three 
million, eight hundred and fifty-one thousand miles, and his 
orbit is so far from circular as to place him nearly two hundred 
million miles nearer the Sun at one point than at another. The 
effect of the " rolling " of Uranus would be, did he move in a 
perfect circle, to give every point on his surface exactly the 
same kind of weather, take it the year round. He would then 
get as u hot " at one place on his surface as another, and as cold 
"here as there." His day, if he have any, lasts forty-two years. 
But the Sun, at the distance of one thousand seven hundred and 
fifty-three millions of miles has become only a small Star, look- 
ing three hundred and sixty-seven times smaller than he appears 
to us, so that his heat cannot have any great effect — that is, such as 
our gross senses would recognize. It is believed that Uranus has 
four Moons. Astronomers dispute the statement that there are 
more, though the number has been placed as high as eight. The 
Moons go around in two, four, eight and thirteen days. 

Where is Neptune, and how was this Planet dis 

We have now come to the very last oi the Sun's Satellites 
that are known. There is no achievement in the history of the 



484 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

race so flattering to human reason as the discovery of Neptune, 
the World whose path now forms the limit of the Solar System. 
Upon the recognized admission of Uranus into the System, 
Astronomers fell to work in a kind of pleasant excitement to 
possess themselves of the vast spoils of knowledge which they 
hoped this acquisition would yield to Astronomy. But, as the 
Planets are all effected by the "close" passage of another 
World, this being the reason of their circles getting so greatly 
misshapen, the scientists were astonished to find Uranus exhibit- 
ing this sort of courtesy in a region where no Planet neared him. 
The awful problem which was presented, seemed to almost war- 
rant the poetical and devotional sentiment that God himself 
passed by, and the danger to the science of Astronomy was 
quickly realized. If this perturbation in the course of Uranus 
could not be satisfactorily explained — if Uranus went out of his 
way to meet nothing tangible, the whole fabric of the science 
fell into absurdity, and the theory of gravitation had its plain 
refutation staring in the face of every observer. 

What did the Astronomers do ? 

Necessity is the mother of invention. Therefore, the Astrono- 
mers invented a Planet. There was no chance to find this Planet, 
if the right spot were not scanned. A bull-frog in the Atlantic 
Ocean would furnish more seductive game than the search for a 
speck in space — in space endlessly wide and deep. Two men set 
themselves to work to get up the right sized Planet — for a small 
Planet would have done as poorly as none. Paradoxically, after 
watching the motions of Uranus, they weighed in their balance 
the unknown World, which was found wanting. Mr. Adams, in 
England, at the end of his labors, announced where the Planet 
must be, and its weight. The paper containing these god-like 
data he, fortunately for his honor and reputation, presented to the 
Astronomer Royal of England. At the same time the Frenchman, 
Leverrier, was independently doing the same work. The search 
was deferred necessarily during a proper mapping of the Stars in 
the field of exploration, even that most important of operations 
being still uncompleted. In the year 1846, Leverrier published 
his statements, his directions for finding the celestial sine qua 




ASTRONOMY. 485 

noriy and his estimate of the probable distance and weight of the 
body. On the 18th of September, 1846, the telescopes of all 
Europe being fixed on the spot named by Leverrier and Adams, 
the instrument of Galle, of the Berlin Observatory, reflected to 
the eager searcher, the hoped-for discovery. A Star moved from 
Star to Star, a thing which real Stars never do. A World was 
found, and the sensation the glorious triumph caused in the 
minds of men capable of appreciating and understanding it, may 
easily be imagined. The stranger thus added to our company is 
two billion, seven hundred and forty-six million, two hundred 
and seventy-one thousand miles from the Sun. No man not an 
antediluvian in vitality has lived one of Neptune's years, for it is 
one hundred and sixty-four times as long as ours ; he has not 
completed a great portion of one circle since his discovery. He 
is found to have one Moon, which, like the Moons of Uranus, 
goes backward, as compared with the motions of all other planet- 
ary bodies. Not much else is known of him. Had the Star-maps 
possessed by Galle been also at the service of the Astronomer 
Royal, it is probable (all Englishmen declare) that Adams would 
have reaped the undivided honor. However, this assertion is 
disagreeable to most Frenchmen, and much time was unprofitably 
employed for thirty years, in quarreling over the proportion of 
honor due to each discoverer. 

How did Herschcl represent the Solar System ? 

For the purpose of expressing clearly the space evidently 
allotted to our Sun in the great cheese-like Universe, Sir William 
Herschel has given the following idea : Suppose that in London, 
or in some field near the great city, a globe two feet in diameter 
be taken to represent the Sun, which is eight hundred and fifty- 
two thousand miles high instead of two feet. Mercury will then 
be represented by a mustard-seed on a circle of one hundred and 
sixty-four feet in diameter or eighty-two feet away ; Venus by a 
pea on a circle of two hundred and eighty-four feet in diameter; 
the Earth by a little larger pea on. a circle of four hundred 
and thirty feet ; Mars by a grape-seed on a circle of six 
hundred and fifty-four feet ; the Asteroids by grains of 
sand in orbits of from one thousand to one thousand and 



486 1HE FIRESWil UNIVERSITY. 

two hundred feet ; Jupiter by an orange in a circle nearly 
a half mile across (only a quarter of a mile from the globe) ; 
Saturn, by a smaller orange on a circle, four-fifths of a mile ; 
Uranus, by a small plum on a circle of more than a mile and a 
half, and lastly, Neptune circling in an orbit a little less than 
three miles in diameter and represented by a large plum. On 
this scale, the nearest fixed Star would be at San Francisco. It 
is easy to imagine the room left for other Systems and for our 
own in the vast stretch represented by the Atlantic Ocean and 
the wide continent of America, where two feet represent eight 
hundred and fifty-two thousand miles. 

What is the Zodiac ? 

Now it is plain, that, if so vast an interstice in the great 
" cheese " be left to the Solar System, then the Stars surround- 
ing the Sun will appear to (although they do not really) inclose 
it much like a hollow sphere with the Sun on the inside. This 
we will call the celestial sphere. The Planets spin around the 
Sun nearly on a level, Venus only going above and below the 
general plane to any extent. (Astronomers have not taken 
much notice of the inclination of the Asteroids.) It follows 
that, if the observer stand on any one of the Planets and take 
note of the Sun's place among or in front of the Stars (for the 
Sun is in front of the Stars day and night), the Sun will seem to 
travel round and round in a certain path, always going in front 
of a certain set of Stars forming a belt around the concave of 
Stars. This belt is called the Zodiac. Every portion of the 
celestial sphere has been mapped off and bunched into 
one hundred and nine constellations of Stars, and there 
are twelve of these constellations in the belt called the 
Zodiac, in front of which the Sun travels. The farmer 
may get exactly the idea desired to convey, if, while 
plowing on sloping ground, he lay out a €i land w to be 
plowed around, and somewhere in the center of the " land " or 
plot, have a sapling or tree growing for shade when the field is 
seeded for pasture. Now, let this field in which he plows be 
surrounded, say, by a copse or woods on one side, a clover-field 
on another side, a neighbor's place on another side, and his own 



ASTRONOMY. 487 

homestead on the other and remaining side. Now, again, with 
his sapling in the center of the land he commences "plowing 
round. " Let us suppose the sapling to be the Sun and the 
farmer to be the Earth. As he goes, the sapling seems to pass 
by the copse, past the meadow, across his neighbor's place, in 
front of the homestead, and, finally, when a round has been 
completed, the sapling is in front of the beginning of the copse 
again. Let us allow that there are only four constellations in our 
gotten-up Zodiac, and we have exactly the same phenomenon 
that is every year presented in the heavens — the sapling seem- 
ingly passing through the Zodiac, and yet in reality standing 
still while we do all the traveling. 

Speak now with regard to the number of Stars in space. 

On a fine night, a person with unimpaired vision is thought to 
see about three thousand Stars above the seventh magnitude 
from any one station. Of these, about seven rank in the 
brightest class and seventy in the second. Stars of the first 
magnitude are considered to be one hundred times as bright as 
those of the sixth, although the light of Sirius, the most lustrous 
Star in the heavens, is generally reckoned to be three hundred 
and twenty-four times as brilliant as a sixth-class Star. There 
seems to be something finite and limited in a number which 
stops at three thousand, and these were all that the early 
ancients knew to exist. But once point the telescope out, and 
infinity commands our adoration. Stars of the seventh, eighth, 
and up to the sixteenth magnitude, become distinctly visible, 
and their number grows geometrically larger with every 
improvement in the instrument. With the largest glasses, the 
original three thousand have swelled to the most exalted powers 
of human contemplation, and the mind wearies before the task 
of computing twenty millions of scintillating Suns. There is no 
evidence yet presented to the reasoning faculties of man to lead 
him to assign any limit whatever to Creation. There is no more 
unsatisfactory thought, perhaps, than that induced by so perfect 
an exposition of Infinite Greatness. To the circumscribed brain 
of man, when we withdraw all bounds and measures, we depart 
from its modes of intelligent operation. Man sinks into mingled 



488 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

astonishment and disappointment. He was searching for gold, 
but he did not want everything he touched to turn into gold, 
and leave him to famish in his opulence. 

How are celestial distances measured? 

It is frequently necessary to find the distance of an object 
which is inaccessible. For this purpose, man early elaborated 
the science of angles, called trigonometry, and, if the reader 
have ever seen a u surveyor's instrument," he has seen just about 
the device that has served to unfold all the wonders of gigantic 
distances. If the surveyor find it necessary to ascertain the 
distance of a tree, he, with great care, levels a strip of ground 
of considerable length, and as carefully measures it. That 
measurement is to be one side of a triangle. Of triangles he 
knows, by previous study, the exact laws. Now, with this 
" surveying instrument" (called a theodolite), he goes to one 
end of this straight level line which he has measured, say the 
right end, facing the tree, and points the telescope at the tree. 
For great accuracy, the eye-piece of the glass is crossed with 
hairs, so that even the centre of the telescope can be secured. 
To avoid description, say the telescope is swung compass-like 
over a circle, and the circle is marked off like a dial of a clock, 
into degrees, minutes and seconds, the difference being that, 
instead of twelve degrees as on the dial, there are three hundred 
and sixty, and they are called degrees, minutes and seconds of 
arc. Each degree, like every hour on the dial, has sixty minutes, 
composed in turn of sixty seconds. When the minute hand on 
a clock has tipped over seven and a half minutes, the space 
measured on a circle is forty-five degrees of arc, and at a 
quarter, it is ninety degrees of arc. If, however, the minute 
hand were to go backward seven and a half minutes, it would 
be called forty-five degrees all the same, and not three hundred 
and fifteen degrees, unless distinctly specified. Now, let the 
surveyor put the front of his telescope (after getting the first 
and third quarters of the circle, over which it swings exactly 
above the base-line on the ground) directly upon what would 
be the figure twelve on the clock. He looks through and finds 
the tree to the left of him. So, he swings the telescope to the 






ASTRONOMY. 489 

left of our "figure twelve/' the telescope being pivoted on its 
centre, remember, and finally gets the tree in the centre of the 
telescope, when it is, say, " five minutes to twelve " (on a clock). 
He has previously been paying no attention to the circle on 
which the telescope swings, but now he looks at it, and at once 
sets down thirty degrees — that is, one corner of what will be 
a triangle when he is through with it is now an angle, or 
coming-together of two cross lines, which angle measures thirty 
degrees, and is the same thing as is seen when the hands of a 
clock are five minutes to three o'clock, the angle being at the 
clock-post where the hands meet. This is all he wished to know 
at that point — simply how much that angle measured. He now 
goes to the left end of the base line and swings the large end ot 
the telescope on its pivot to the right of the " twelve o'clock " 
on the circle underneath. He at last stops at "five minutes" 
after the twelve, and it, of course, registers thirty degrees again, 
or the same as five minutes after three o'clock. Now he has two 
lines starting from a base-line and gradually approaching each 
other. The law of their meeting is as fixed as the laws of the 
Medes and Persians. He knows the inclination at which these 
imaginary lines started, and that when they meet they will meet 
at the tree. But that is enough. He does his figuring, and the 
exact distance of the tree is ascertained, and it is more accurate 
than any common measurement of distance would be if manually 
accomplished. Now, what should have occurred to man sooner 
after pointing his telescope at the tree, than to try it on the 
Moon ? He draws his base line, and he feels that he ought to 
have a long one, so he makes it a mile long. If the Moon be 
forty miles off, he will still have quite a respectable end to his 
triangle. It will not be worse than the angle in the hour and 
minute hands on the big town clock at a minute of noon. He 
puts his telescope, as a preliminary measure, on the "twelve 
o'clock," calculating to move it either way it may be necessary. 
But he is disturbed a little to find it points exactly at the Moon, 
without any turning. He hurries to the other end of the base 
line, and finds the same state of affairs ; his two angles which he 
hoped to get, measure zero ; and he cannot reckon, for his lines 
going to the Moon are straight, and must be parallel, or never meet. 



490 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

What is Parallax ? 

Now it is time to go back to the field where the farmer was 
plowing a short time ago. Let us suppose the farmer to take 
his son with him. They stand on the side opposite the strip of 
land which borders one side of the field. The sapling stands 
between them and the woods. The farmer leaves his son at the 
plow-handles and walks backward in the furrow twenty feet. 
He looks at the sapling in the centre of the field, and concludes 
that it is directly in front of a beech tree in the woods. He asks 
his son about it, but his son thinks it is in front of a sycamore 
tree, about twenty feet to the left of the beech tree. Now this 
difference is called the parallax of the sapling. The surveyor 
would come with his instrument, and with the base line of 
twenty feet get an angle at each end, form a triangle in his mind, 
and figure the distance of the sapling in almost no time at all. 
Then this must be the trouble with the man looking at the 
moon. He cannot obtain a parallax. What is the matter? It 
must be that the moon is more than forty miles away. The poor 
surveyor then wastes his time in getting longer base lines, until 
he is compelled to admit that the Moon must be very far off, 
for his base lines ten mjies long only make him straight lines 
out toward the Moon, the fair Queen of Night being in the same 
place from each end. We have now entered this subject of 
triangles far enough to say that the triangle we have made is 
always to be split in two, lengthwise, making two right-angled 
tr^ngles, so that only half the base line is the base. The 
squares of the two shorter sides of the right-angled triangle are 
equal to the squares of the longest side (or hypothenuse). 

How do the Astronomers get a base-line long enough for the 
base of a right-angled triangle? 

Their instruments are not called theodolites, but they might 
as well be. The principle is there. They have accurate time- 
pieces and have the heavens mapped off, like the Earth, into 
latitude and longitude. On a certain night, at a certain moment, 
two Astronomers, one in one city and one in another, thousands 
of miles off, "spot" the exact latitude and longitude of the 
Moon. These Astronomers know their distance from the centre 



ASTRONOMY. 491 

of the Earth. They know their distance in miles apart on the 
surface. They make a base-line out of a semi-diameter of the 
Earth. With such a base-line, the Moon easily changes in 
position. The instrument gives a good angle at one end, the 
angle is noted, and, Eureka ! the distance of the Moon is 
measured as easily as that of the tree. Now it must be seen 
that, in the case of the tree, the man had a sure thing, because 
he really measured the base-line ; but the measurements of the 
Astronomer depend upon many other observations, all going to 
modify his precedure. The diameter of the World depends on 
its distance from the Sun, etc. If it be one million miles nearer 
than it was supposed to be fifty years ago (as it is), it weighs so 
many million tons more, and it is so much larger; yet it is fair 
to believe that the heavenly measures are, even in their present 
imperfect condition, far more reliable than would be those of 
any set of chain-measures, were such undertakings possible. 
The angle of the instrument when pointed to the Moon, with 
half the thickness of the Earth for a base-line, is almost a 
degree. That is, if we placed two single-handed dials side by 
side and pointed the hand of the right dial at ten seconds of 
noon, and the hand of the left one ten seconds after noon, as 
could be done if the dials were large enough to admit of the 
division of the minutes on the dial into six parts, and if we sup- 
posed the two dial-posts to be eight thousand miles apart, the 
hands, if continued, out into space, would come together 
at the Moon, or at something over two hundred and 
thirty thousand miles away. Here we have the double right 
angle, and used only one right angle for the computation. 
The astronomical base-line is always to be a semi-diameter, or 
a radius of a circle. But even this base-line, long as it is, is 
only useful in measuring the Moon and Mars (when nearest), 
although the parallax of Mars is a point in other triangles by 
which one may secure the knowledge of other Planetary dis- 
tances. The Sun's Parallax, or the angle obtained by a base- 
line four thousand miles long, is only eight seconds oi a circle 
of three hundred and sixty degrees. His Parallax is more easily 
perceived when Venus and Mercury cross his disk. 



492 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

Now for the Parallax of the Stars, 

Having made the Sun, Moon and Planets jog over a little by 
obtaining a long base-line, we begin on the Stars; but, in 
attempting this with a base-line only four thousand miles long, we 
are just as ingenious as was the surveyor when he began on the 
Moon. And now come the careful operations which take 
Astronomy beyond the realm of untechnical talk. The metal 
circles measuring the hoped-for angle must be "compensated," 
or made like a fine balance-wheel in a watch, so as not to swell 
or shrink in changes of weather; the quickness of personal 
faculties and observation, the sharpness of vision, the heat of 
the blood, all known as the "personal error/' must be known; 
the observatory must be solidly built from a deep founda- 
tion, to avoid the heaving of the frost ; the aberration of light 
must be deducted ; the notation or nodding of the Earth must 
be accounted for, and the astronomical chronometers used must 
have the smallest possible error, for perfection is impossible. 
With such reverential exactitude as no priest ever attained does 
the Astronomer proceed in his offices. The stronghold of in- 
credulity may be greatly shaken by an apprisal of the circum- 
spection with which reason accepts the credentials of truth. 
Now the observer begins the magnificent undertaking of making 
his base-line from the center of the Sun instead of the Earth. 
Getting his angles to the Sun's center from opposite sides of the 
Earth's orbit, one observation being taken in June and another 
in December, he gets a semi-diameter of our orbit, 92,800,000 
miles long, as his base-line, and proceeds to search for Stars 
which will give angles. When the two Astronomers took obser- 
vations of the Moon, they were after geocentric (center of the 
earth) parallax ; now the one Astronomer is in search of heliocen- 
tric (center of the Sun) parallax. With his instruments arranged 
and his mighty base-line established, he proceeds at one end of 
the line (that is, say, in June) to note the spots in which one 
hundred Stars are located, the fine silk lines in the eye-piece of 
his telescope making the operation very exact. Then, at the other 
end of his line, in a month when the Earth has swung round 
sufficiently to get three points in all — (1) the angle of the center 






ASTRONOMY. 493 

of the Sun, (2) the first position of the Earth, and (3) the second 
position — he again inspects the same Stars. But alas ! many of 
them have not stirred. Upon most of them the instrument points 
straight out, though angles far beyond the sight of man would 
be detected by the instrument. However, as if to give man a 
little hope, a few Stars have shown a small parallax. A double 
Star in the Southern Hemisphere called Alpha Centauri has 
indicated the greatest displacement, and must therefore be the 
nearest Star. The angle running into space toward this double 
Star was found to deflect almost a second of arc. Now, a second 
of difference showed that the two lines running into space 
would come together at two hundred and sixty thousand times 
the length of the base-line — two hundred and six thousand 
times the distance from the Earth to the Sun (ninety-two million 
three hundred thousand miles as then measured) or nineteen 
trillion, thirteen billion, eight hundred million miles away — 
over nineteen trillion, or nineteen millions of millions of miles, a 
space through which light, traveling two hundred thousand 
miles a second, must spend three and one-half years 
in its passage to us. This then is the nearest fellow of 
our Solar Master. The great Star Sirius, which is in the 
southern heavens during winter, moves fifteen hundredths 
of a second of arc, as viewed from each end of the 
Astronomer's base-line, and the triangle formed in this 
manner is six times as long as that running to Alpha Centauri, 
or one hundred and fourteen trillion of miles. This Star is 
thought to exceed the Sun in size three hundred and twenty- 
four times. It is believed that the average distance of a Star of 
the sixth magnitude is seven million six hundred thousand 
times ninety-two million three hundred thousand miles, which 
would require one hundred and twenty years for the passage of 
light. The Stars made visible by the great telescope are believed 
to be so far off that light would be fourteen thousand years in 
getting from them to the Earth. The Astronomer's measuring 
rod is a delicate affair. Should he measure a dot more than were 
right, though the dot be but the five-thousandth of an inch (the 
thickness of a silken fibre), the fruitful seed of error would be sown 
in fertile soil. There is nothing more thoroughly calculated to 



494 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

magnify a mistake, than a line started into space at a false angle. 
A miscalculation of the thickness of a silken fibre at the begin- 
ning, becomes a discrepancy of seventy feet at the other end of 
the Earth, a blunder of three hundred and sixteen miles when 
the line arrives at the Sun, and when the nearest fixed Star is 
approached, the line is sixty-five million two hundred 
thousand miles out of the way. An angle of a second 
is a subtle thing, and is utterly invisible to the 
unassisted eye, unless the circle be made very large. For 
instance, a pair of compasses eight miles long would let a base 
ball of a diameter of two and one-half inches between its legs at 
the points, and the opening would be a second in width. It 
may be imagined how long the compasses would have to be 
before a World three hundred and twenty-four times as large as 
our Sun could get in, especially if the compasses were pushed 
five-sixths further shut. No accurate measure of the size of 
any fixed Star has ever yet been possible. When one of the 
Sun's Planets crosses the field of a telescope, it immediately 
shows a disk like the Moon or Sun. But the Stars twinkle in 
the telescope just as they do to the eye — in fact, the larger and 
better the telescope, the smaller the Star becomes. Their differ- 
ing brilliancy cannot with certainty be attributed to any one 
of the three causes which would effect it. The greater splendor 
of one Star might be due to its superior size, its greater proxim- 
ity, or the unequaled quality of its rays of light, or to all or 
any two of these reasons. Our chapter on the Spectroscope 
will show the latest conclusions on these points. 

What are the Nebula ? 

Astronomy demands even further efforts of the understanding. 
The earlier discoverers often noticed little misty bunches of 
matter in their telescopes, giving much cause for dis- 
cussion, which were named Nebulae. As the telescopes increased 
in power, the Nebulae altered greatly in appearance, and it was 
found .that some of them were really masses of Stars so far off 
as to offer no specks of light to the small telescopes, but readily 
resolving before the more penetrating powers of great glasses. 
Therefore, some Astronomers have considered themselves 







ASTRONOMY. 495 

justified in the hypothesis that this great cheese of Stars, whose 
incalculable proportions have just been remarked upon, is only 
one in a number of similar Universes, some of whose distances 
are so great as to present with the whole of their incalculable 
number only a bunch of mist no larger than a man's hand. This 
theory is now undergoing the unpitying scrutiny of reason and 
greater knowledge, and may stand ; while, again, it may fall. 

Does the Sun Move ? 

Inasmuch as the Sun moves on his axis, like a Planet, it has 
long been believed that he also must move around some central 
Sun, carrying his System with him. Thus, we are supposed to 
be drifting along among the Stars, and the advanced theorists, 
have placed our motion at one hundred and fifty million 
miles a year. Either this motion or the motion of 
the Stars themselves has given many of the Stars a 
changed position compared with their places on the 
Star-maps centuries ago. The belief that the whole Solar 
System of Planets is moving among the Stars has been 
strengthened by the constellations in one part of the heavens 
appearing to widen out, and those in the opposite quarter 
becoming narrower. According to Mr. Proctor, the two Stars 
in the Big Dipper most distant from each other are traveling 
eastward, while the five going to complete the inner portion of 
the Dipper are moving westward. 

What are Double Stars ? 

After the invention of the telescope, it was found that certain 
Stars previously supposed to be single, were in reality double, 
triple, quadruple and even quintuple. The number of these 
is proven to be about six thousand. The Polar Star 
is one of the double ones. These Stars are found 
to revolve around each other, and, in the case of 
the double Stars, this statement is proved by the fact 
that they separate, which might easily be the effect caused 
by such revolution, if seen from the Earth. The nearest Star, 
Alpha Centauri, was found, long after the name was given to it, 
to be one of this class of Stellar Systems. These Stars assume 
a double and triple aspect only under the telescope, and are too 



496 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

close together to permit their peculiarity to be detected by the 
eye. 

How are the separate Stars distinguished ? 

In speaking of Alpha Centauri, the statement is made useful 
that, in the infancy of Astronomy, the Greeks and Arabs mapped 
out the heavens, as they appeared before the naked eye. For 
convenience of location, they divided the whole sphere of Stars 
into constellations or groups (for example; Orion), in many cases 
affixing fanciful names to the group, although in most instances, 
not the faintest resemblance existed between the namesake and 
the shape of the constellation. Then they named the Stars by 
the letters of the alphabet. Thus, the nearest Star to the Earth 
is the principal Star in the constellation of the Centaur and 
therefore Alpha, the first Greek letter. As the telescope has 
discovered additional Stars in each constellation, it has been 
necessary, after exhausting the Greek alphabet, to use our own, 
and after that to begin numbering them with figures, as 61 
Cygni — that is, 61 of the Swan. 

I know the Big Dipper. Talk to me of that constellation. 

Let us go out some clear night. There is a satisfaction in 
knowing that we see before us an object which has not percept- 
ibly altered since the beginning of history. Without traversing 
seas and continents, we gaze upon the same spectacle that has 

claimed thewonderingattention of Confucius, Herodotus,Pythag- 
oras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander, Ptolemy, Mithri- 
dates, Hannibal, Marius, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Charlemagne, 
Charles V, Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Frederick, Franklin and 
Napoleon. All these mighty of the Earth have looked upon 
this same group of Stars. It is the most prominent in the north- 
ern heavens, both on account of the brilliant Suns which go to 
form it, and from the fact that, of all the distinctively-marked 
groups, it never sinks beneath the horizon in our latitude. This 
constellation was called Arktos (Greek for Bear) and Hamexa 
(Wagon) in the time of Homer, the father of poetry, who lived 
a thousand years before Christ. There are seventeen Stars visi- 
ble to the eye in this constellation, astronomically speaking, but 
to us, and to the World which is gone, seven bright Stars give 




THE GENIUS OF INVENTION PRESENTING HER DISCOVERIES TO 1NIH SIKV 



ASTRONOMY. 497 

to it its shape,six of them forming a dipper,and one of them hang- 
ing down a little, giving the handle a crooked appearance, if 
we are inclined to attach it to the other six (as people always 
have done). The people of Rome, of course, translated Arktos 
into their word for Bear, which was Ursus. Ursa, therefore, 
was She-Bear. Now, as there was another constellation of the 
Bear, of which the Pole Star was a member, they called the Pole 
constellation the Lesser Bear (Ursa Minor) and the constellation 
of the Big Dipper Ursa Major the (Greater Bear). As there is 
a constellation higher in the sky, which is seen much of the year, 
and is exactly like the Big Dipper in shape on a smaller 
scale, it has always seemed odd to some people that it should not 
have received the name of Ursa Minor instead of the group which 
is around the Pole. But the Little Dipper is called the Pleiades, 
and is spoken of in Job. The Sun passes by the constellation in 
which it is situated. To come back to the Big Dipper. We go 
to the north side of the house, and there, spread before us, 
not very far up the heavens, we have six great Stars, wide 
apart, but making as perfect a dipper as any one could 
mark out with six dots. Now, if you do not know where the 
North Star is, take the two Stars furthest from the handle of the 
Dipper, and, looking upward from the bottom of the Dipper, 
about four times as far as the distance from bottom to the top 
of the Dipper, you run directly to the North Star, the three 
Stars being in line. The two end Stars in the Dipper are called 
the Pointers on this account. Around this North Star, all the 
heavens seemingly revolve, which is owing to the fact that the 
Earth is spinning around under the Star. The Romans also 
called the seven bright Stars of the Big Dipper the Septentriones, 
or the Seven Ploughing Oxen, from which the Latin word Sep- 
tentrionalis sprang, which, long as it is, means nothing but 
" north w and has also been adopted into French, Spanish ami 
Italian, with the same meaning. The common names through- 
out Europe for the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major, are the Plow, 
Charles' Wain and the Wagon, retaining the old Greek idea. 
These names are frequently heard here, even among common 
folk. " Wain " means wagon, Let us begin to name the Stars 

32 



498 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

of Ursa Major. The first Star is nearest the North Star, at the 
top of the basin of the Dipper, furthest from where the handle 
joins. This is Alpha Ursae Majoris in Astronomy (Alpha of 
Ursa Major) a Star of the first magnitude, (though not so marked 
by all Astronomers) and furnishes the inexperienced eye with 
an opportunity to fix the meaning of the term " first magni- 
tude/' There are seven Stars of this rank in the northern 
heavens. Below, forming the outer end of the bottom of the 
Dipper, is Beta, the second ; at the other end of the bottom is 
Gamma ; at the junction of the handle with the basin is Delta ; 
running up the handle the eye rests on Epsilon ; and at the end 
of the handle is Zeta. This Star is closely surrounded by three 
little Stars, at least one of which every one may see on a winter 
night. Sharper-eyed people, may, perhaps see the others — they 
are there, close up. Now, those seemingly little Stars may be as 
large as Zeta, or they may be nearer, being much smaller and 
less resplendent with light — no one can tell. Their distance 
apart sidewise, although the naked eye does not detect a great 
deal, is probably sufficient to swing a dozen Solar Systems in. 
Now, dropping obliquely, lies Eta, completing the group, and 
making the handle of the Dipper crooked. Now draw a line 
from the North Star to Eta. Continue that line as far again, 
and you strike the Star Arcturus, another one of the first magni- 
tude, whose distance is unknown, as a base-line ninety-two 
million three hundred thousand miles long gives no angle, the 
telescope pointing straight out from each end. Beta and Gamma 
(the bottom Stars) are of the second magnitude ; Delta, Epsilon, 
Zeta and Eta are of the third magnitude. 

What does the North Star teach ? 

The North Star is not a Star of great brilliancy (third magnU 
tude), but is easily recognizable as a fairly-bright point in a 
large field where there are no Stars above the fifth magnitude. 
This Star is Alpha Ursae Minoris, and is almost over the North 
Pole. When the Arctic explorer stands on the North Pole, the 
North Star will be nearly over his head. It sinks toward the 
horizon as you go southward. There is no Scar so closely to the 
South Pole which can be seen with the naked eye. Owing to 



ASTRONOMY. 499 

certain great motions of the Earth's orbit, as it were, the tip of 
the Earth gradually changes. The reader has noticed the handle 
of a top describe a small circle as it spinned. The imaginary line 
called the Pole does the same thing, revolving once in eighteen 
years around the North Star. This is called nutation. But 
there is another and vaster motion caused by this nutation, 
which takes thousands of years for its accomplishment. The 
laws of attraction complicate the motions of all the heavenly 
bodies in a remarkable degree. One of these "motions of the 
orbit" might be fairly illustrated if one took a hoop and swung 
it around his finger. If he called his finger the Sun, and the 
furthest portion of the hoop Aphelion (away from the Sun) and 
the part his finger touched Perihelion (nearest the Sun), then by 
making the hoop revolve on his finger, he would see that peri- 
helion constantly changed — that is, if there were a blotch of 
printers' ink at Aphelion, he would, after swinging the hoop 
sharply twenty or thirty times, find his finger were thoroughly 
blackened. Of course, if he could hold his finger further across 
the hoop in the air, and still do the swinging, it would be more 
exact. Thus, the exact spot in which the Earth is nearest the 
Sun is constantly changing, and only once in twenty-five thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-eight years does the Earth occupy the 
same spot in space when it is at Perihelion. This change is 
called the Precession of the Equinoxes. 

What is the Precession of the Equinoxes? 

There is not probably in all Astronomy, an expression so tho- 
roughly formidable to the uninitiated mind. But let us cut up 
these high-sounding words. We all know what ° precede '' 
means, but we rarely see the word changed as we change t€ suc- 
ceed" — that is, into precession. If you precede me in going to 
dinner, it is a precession of individuals. The word u nox " 
meant " night" among the Romans. The reader can detect the 
word "equal" in "equi" — so that "equinox" means equal 
night. But " equinox " is one of those words which, alter it has 
been dissected, is still blinding as ever ; so we must still investi- 
gate it. Let us take an apple and run a knitting-needle through it. 
Run the knitting-needle into the rest of the apples in the tureen 



500 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

which may be supposed to hold them on a winter's night, letting 
the knitting-needle " stand over " pretty well out of a vertical 
position. The chances are that it will hold its position and 
fairly represent the position of the Earth. Now, for convenience, 
take the lamp in your hand and walk around the apple, which 
should stand well up from the other apples to get a full light. 
Suppose you begin while the apple is leaning away from you. 
Then a portion of the under part of the apple beyond the needle 
is lighted, and a portion on the front side of the top is dark. As 
you walk either way round, just a quarter of the whole circum- 
ference, you have arrived at a point where your lamp throws 
light exactly to the knitting-needle both at the top and bottom. 
As the apple must be supposed to be revolving on the needle, it 
is plain that each side of the Earth will get the light and dark- 
ness in exactly equal proportions, and that the night cannot be 
any longer than the day. This is an equinox. There is one on 
the other side of the table also. Now, this illustration has 
reversed the real operations of the equinox, but, if the reader 
set his light down and carry the apple in the same position, he 
can get the exact effect. The poles must point the same way all 
the time of the revolution around the table. If the orbit of the 
Earth were a circular crevice cut in your floor, and the knitting- 
needle, standing in the same leaning position, were pounded out 
flat and two inches wide, and carried in its polar position around 
on top of the crevice, there would be but these two equinoxial 
points where it could slip down into the crevice without straight- 
ening up erectly. Of course, it would be supposed that these two 
points would always be reached " on time/' but as there is a cer- 
tain Star out behind each equinoxial point, it was soon appar- 
ent to Astronomers that the days began to, say, "grow long " 
before the equinoxial point, registered hundreds of years before 
had been reached. So it was found that the old Earth really 
lagged. It was as though the farmer plowing around the sap- 
ling near noon-time, got unendurably hungry in front of his 
neighbor's place, instead of on the side nearest home. This would 
be a precession of stopping-places. Now, if we take and bake this 
apple into a jelly-like condition, and then, by some means, whirl 
it on the knitting-needle, we will find that the greatest strain on 



ASTRONOMY. 501 

the pulpy mass is on the parts of the surface furthest from the 
needle, or at the equator. It probably will swell there. So it is 
with the Earth. Although we are not sensible to the whirling 
motion of the Earth, still the easily-movable portions, such as the 
seas, aided by the tidal attraction of the Moon, swell out the 
figure of the Earth at the equator and make it more unwieldly, 
imparting, by the shifting of such enormous masses on its sur- 
face, the wabbling motion of nutation. This motion, and the 
dead weight of the Moon, cause one grand wabble in twenty- 
five thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight years, just as a top 
when going with some velocity, may be seen to have two distinct 
wabbles, one very small one, where the point is fiot exactly in 
the center, and one very large one, where the equator of the top 
nears the table all round by turns. If the Earth were all plati- 
num and perfectly spherical, the attractions of other bodies 
would perhaps never, by pulling more at one instant than another 
have set it going in this manner. But the result of this preces- 
sion of the equinoxes is that the tip of the Earth is really 
changed, and the North Pole (in addition to the small circle 
around whatever Star it may be under) makes a grand twenty- 
five thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight year circle. That 
is, suppose the North Pole to stick up out of the Earth and 
" scrape the sky." It would then be seen to go around the 
North Star in a small circle once in nineteen years, and after- 
ward, leaving that Star to gradually "scrape " a large circle in 
the heavens, by turn, recognizing different Stars as North Stars, 
but finally, after twenty-five thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
eight years, returning to our North Star. There is a powerful 
force at work tending to make the Earth rotate (spin) pole over 
pole instead of in its present manner, and this compromise 
between the two motions represents the proportionate power oi 
the two agencies, every force in nature being felt and responded 
to by the object upon which it acts. The force which makes the 
Earth spin, is so much greater, that the effect of the other force 
only shows in a small way. 

What seems to be the history of our North Stan 

The present North Star, Alpha Ursae Mnioris, has been 
drawing near the pole since one hundred and fifty years before 



502 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Christ. At that time, Hipparchus, a Greek, measured it as 
twelve degrees from the true centre of the northern heavens, 
the pole. From those twelve degrees it has worked up to one 
and a half degrees, and will go much closer. In the year 2100, 
it will be twenty-one minutes from the centre. Then it will 
begin its twelve thousand nine hundred and thirty-four year 
pilgrimage away from the pole. Two hundred years before 
Christ, the Star Beta Ursae Majoris, which the reader can 
exactly place, was the North Star. Twenty-one hundred years 
before that, the Star Alpha in a constellation called the Dragon, 
was only ten minutes of arc from the pole. Twelve thousand 
years from now the large Star Vega in the constellation called 
the Lyre will be close enough to be called the North Star. 

What has been learned of the Nebulce ? 

The Nebulae present so many different aspects as to render it 
nearly certain that they vary widely in their constitution. While 
some of them may be Universes, still others of them are only 
gaseous clouds, torn by evenly-balanced attractions and pre- 
vented from forming a single Star. Others, as seen in the 
telescope, are found to have a most glorious Sun in their centre, 
and to much resemble a Chinese fire-wheel when in operation. 
So long as a few of these bunches of mist can be resolved into 
something less than a whole Universe, there is hope, the best 
Astronomers believe, that the Nebular Hypothesis of Universes 
without End may be overthrown, and man be left to grapple 
with the simpler problem of Worlds without End. 

Why do the Stars twinkle ? 

It has been supposed that the twinkling of Stars was caused 
by the interposition of the myriads of opaque Worlds which 
must accompany the Stars, as the Planets obey the Sun, but it 
was found by Arago, the French scientist, that the same effect 
could be, and probably is, secured by the rapid changes of color 
w r hich a ray of light undergoes in every yard of its long trip to 
the Earth. The Planets also twinkle. 

What is seen in Eclipses ? 

One of the clearest proofs of the accuracy of Astronomical 




ASTRONOMY. 503 

statements can be given in the prophecy of the occurrence of 
any eclipse, that phenomenon being foretold with a truthfulness 
born of the science of mathematics. So, too, in an eclipse of 
the Moon can the spherical shape of the Earth be demonstrated, 
for the Earth's shadow, resting on the Moon, can be seen to be 
the shadow of a round body. In an eclipse of the Sun, the 
piling of the lesser World upon the greater, affords a fine view 
of the " ballishness " of the Moon, enabling the eye to see that 
it is more than a disk. 

What are Meteors ? 

People were awakened in the night of November 13th, 1832, 
with the most remarkable visitation that human eye ever beheld. 
The heavens were actually falling, so far as man could trust his 
sense of vision. Myriads and myriads of Stars shot in all direc- 
tions, and there was every reason to persuade the mind that the 
kingdom of heaven was at hand. The excitement caused in 
America by that event, and the recurrence of the same phenom- 
enon in the next year, extended to Europe ; and a theory was 
constructed which coincides with all that has happened since 
in the way of Meteoric showers. Humboldt had witnessed a 
Meteoric shower in South America, the 13th of November, 1799, 
and the perfect coincidence of date in the month led Astrono- 
mers at once to speculate upon thirty-three years as a possible 
figure tor the true interval between these phenomena, and to 
look for another shower on the 13th of November, 1866. Interest 
in this country was very great in 1866, and there was a general 
disappointment felt by the rising generation in America at the 
non-re-currence of the spectacle over which their fathers and 
mothers had often dwelt so enthusiastically. But the display 
was quite grand in Europe, sufficiently so to satisfy the savants 
of the correctness of their hypothesis, which is as follows: As 
the Meteors all seemed to start from one point in the sky, the 
constellation of the Lion, and as this is one of the twelve 
constellations of the Zodiac, which lias been previously spoken 
of, it seemed probable that the Earth, as it passed between the 
Sun and the Lion, struck into a zone oi Meteors traveling 
around the Sun. Of course, the moment the attraction ot the 



504 1HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Earth operated from a point near enough to overcome the great 
attraction of the Sun, the little bodies (some of them not larger 
than a pin's head) would begin what is to us a descent to the 
Earth. . As they enter the body of air which clothes the Earth, 
the friction caused by their passage immediately generates 
heat and fire. Thus, they rapidly burn to nothing. At 
seventy miles from the surface of the Earth, they first 
become visible, although they look as far away as a 
fixed Star. After traveling about thirty miles they are usually 
totally consumed, and go out much like a sky-rocket. How- 
ever, a few of them attain a size far beyond that of a pin's head, 
even reaching proportions really formidable; yet the friction of 
their movement is so great in our thick air, as to accelerate their 
combustion in a ratio progressing with their size, and there have 
been comparatively few instances where they have reached the 
Earth with much of their substance unconsumed by fire. As 
these Meteors are most frequently seen in November of every 
year, and as once in thirty-three years they seem to be enor- 
mously multiplied in numbers, it is believed that a ring of these 
bodies revolves around the Sun; that the ring touches the 
Earth's circle between the Lion and the Sun, but that the ring 
is not so large as the Earth's path, and therefore reaches it 
nowhere else. But, if it were on the same level with the Earth's 
path (supposing the two paths circled out in a meadow), the 
circles, being so very large, would be found to be a long time 
almost parallel, before the inner path would begin to cut away 
to complete its smaller circle. Therefore, as the showers are 
seen but for a short time, the two circles must be on different 
levels. The Earth, say, rolls around on your kitchen table, and 
(taking one of the little bodies, which is lucky enough to get 
around without being disturbed) the Meteor spins on a plane or 
level which you could get by tipping up your table seventeen 
degrees, which is about as much of a whole circle as the space 
marked for two and a half inches of time on a dial. The Earth, 
therefore, at only one point in her path, runs into this circle 
thick with little stones. She descends through the ring at a 
slant, and is soon clear of that ring for a year; for^ during the 
first three months it is far above her, the next six months. 



ASTRONOMY, 505 

wherever it is, over or under, it is much inside of her path, and 
in the last three months it is far under her, gradually coming 
up to another contact. The mathematicians figure that, if the 
ring make one revolution around the Sun in eleven days less 
than the Earth's year, then the meeting of the two paths or 
rings would happen at the thickest part of the ring of Meteors 
once in thirty-three years, and cause a great shower of fire-balls 
to be seen on the Earth, while only the ordinary quota of 
Meteors would be seen at other contacts. There is also a dis- 
play of these aerolites regularly from the 9th to the 14th of 
August, which is much more certain to reward the watcher for 
his vigil, and it is believed that another and thicker ring meets 
the Earth at another point in her orbit. There are believed to 
be over one hundred of these rings or systems crossing the path 
of the Earth. 

What is the Meteor, as it falls ? 

When picked up on the Earth, after its fall, the Meteoric stone 
is intensely hot, showing the great friction caused by its travel 
in the air. Iron and nickel are frequently found in the stone, 
and no Element unknown on the Earth has ever been discovered 
by these accessions to our Planet. In 1803, a Meteorite traveled 
over France, creating the utmost sensation, and finally, after 
nearing the ground in Normandy, exploded with a great detona- 
tion, spreading its pieces over a wide extent of country. Over 
three thousand of these fragments were picked up. Perhaps 
the most remarkable event of the kind on record in America, was 
the flight of one of these bodies over the States of Kansas, Iowa, 
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the fall of 1875. It 
was seen first in Kansas, looked as large as the full Moon, and 
was accompanied by continual sounds of explosion, probably 
caused by the unequal degrees of heat to which its surface and 
interior parts were subjected, causing the superficial portions to 
crack and fly off as the Meteor went along. This brilliant 
apparition caused much talk at the time. Wednesday night, 
April 9, 1879, fragments from a Meteor set fire to a House at the 

corner of South Park Avenue and Twenty-fourth street, in 
Chicago. About two bushels of the coke-like pieces of this fire- 



506 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

ball were afterward gathered by the people of the neighborhood. 
The Meteor burst very near the surface of the Earth, and made 
a detonation sufficiently forcible to throw people off their feet. 
The accession of these stones to the bulk of the Earth must have 
an effect upon her motions, although, on account of the infinite 
minuteness of the changes so brought about, man must perhaps 
forever remain in ignorance regarding that effect. Mysteries 
like the fate of the steamship City of Boston, which sailed to 
eternity, may have been the results of great Meteors falling 
upon the doomed vessels, driving them into the sea-depths 
without leaving so much as a spar to be wafted to the anxious 
watchers for the lost. 

Tell me about the Comets, 

These celestial travelers bear a very close resemblance to 
some of the far-off Nebulae, except that, when they can be seen 
at all, they are seen to be moving at an enormous rate of speed. 
They are called Comets, and have amazed man all his days. 
Considering the almost inconceivable lightness of these Comets, 
their velocity is cause for the utmost wonder. All of them move 
before the Stars in a manner indicating the shape of a portion of 
their path, and Astronomers, having a sufficient portion of the 
orbit, soon figure up the rest of it. Where they fail to figure 
out a Comet's orbit, it is where that portion of it inside or across 
the Earth's orbit forms no basis to work upon. The path of a 
Comet leads around the Sun on what is often apparently a 
parabolic curve — that is, a sudden veering from a straight 
course, and again returning to a straight course, but in a 
reverse or backward direction, after going partially around the 
Sun, much as a long belt goes over two wheels, one at each 
end — it must not sag — only that one of the wheels is lacking. 
It stands to reason that this is really the case, and that the 
Cometary belt or path swells between the wheels or where the 
wheel is lacking, making what is called an ellipse — a circle 
pulled out of shape. These long cometary ellipses lead to the 
Sun from all directions, up, down and sidewise. The Comets 
come in to the Sun, whirl around and go back, and seem to care 
no more where they are going than a mad hornet. Now a 




ASTRONOMY. 507 

Comet will rush at a Planet with the speed of the lightning ; 
but now, again, no sooner does it meet the slightest resistance 
than its course is altered and it darts on in an entirely new path. 
As the Comets approach the Sun, they stretch behind them a 
cloud of vapor which has given them their name, Coma (hair), 
being the idea brought to the minds of the ancients by the sight 
of their tails. As they carry their tails in front of them on their 
outward trip, the phenomenon of the tail could be imagined to 
be caused by the Sun's light undergoing some change in shining 
through the ball at the head of the Comet, and the rays, thus 
changed in color after passing through, being visible afterward 
in space. If the«reader has ever seen the rays of a search-light 
before its reflector, he has seen a trail of light more luminous 
than the surrounding atmosphere and always increasing in size. 
The pictures of a locomotive in motion in the night, express 
this phenomenon by a glare of rays in front of the headlight. It 
is probable that most of the Comets go so far into space as to 
require more time for a round trip than the short epochs of 
earthly experience can cope with, but it is not probable that any 
of them travel to other Stars. They are very numerous, from 
four to five being seen every year through the large telescopes, 
but their closer approach, so as to be seen with the naked eye, 
is more rare. If we credit tradition, the Comets sometimes seen 
in the past have been, in certain instances, of a size totally 
surpassing those which have been observed by competent 
Astronomers. 

What is our History of Comets ? 

One hundred and thirty-four years before Christ, a Comet 
appeared which stretched nearly across the sky, a sight which 
would certainly inspire no little alarm even now-a-days. 

Ten years after this, at the coronation of Mithridates, one of 
the most obstinate foes of the Roman Empire, a Comet came 
into the heavens with a head as large as the Sun itself. 

Remarkable visitations of this character startled the inhabit- 
ants of the Earth in 117, 400, 479 and 531, A. D. The two 
Comets of 400 and 531, are recorded to have each looked like a 
sword, and to have reached from zenith to horizon. 



508 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 



In 1066 and 1505 Comets went around the Sun having heads 
as large as the Moon. 

It early became the ambition of learned men to harness these 
wild chargers of the Universe and tame them to the sturdy law 
which controls each Solar dependency. During the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries, of course, as the knowledge of men 
rapidly increased, a record of these Comets and their paths in 
the sky was carefully preserved, and an Astronomer named Dr. 
Halley, by observing a great Comet which appeared in 1682, 
was led to examine the records of preceding Comets to see if his 
observations were duplicated by the accounts of any of them. 
Sir Isaac Newton had outlined some movements which gave 
promise of certain Comets' ultimate return, and Dr. Halle\ 
believing that he could observe an elliptical shape in the path of 
this Comet of 1682, and finding that its movements agreed with 
those of 1531 and 1607, confidently predicted that the three 
visitations were made by the same Comet, and that it would 
complete another revolution in seventy-five and one half years. 
To the astonishment of both learned and unlearned generally, 
his prophecy was fulfilled in 1757. Therefore, Halley's Comet 
was immediately accepted as a member in good standing of the 
Solar System, and the ordinary mathematical labors were under- 
taken to perfect a knowledge of its orbit. The result was the 
fixing of seventy-eight and seventy-eight hundredths years as 
the average time required for its round trip. But Comets seem 
to go a good deal like " wild " trains on a railroad, and, as they 
always get the worst of a collision with a Planet in this end of 
their journey, their movements must be carefully watched to see 
if any such thing happen, and allow for the changes it may 
bring about. When Halley's Comet came back in T835, it had 
a good deal of bad luck in getting inside the influence of our 
Planets, but the effects of those occurrences were so well 
measured by the Astronomers, that the time when it would go 
around the sun was predicted within four days of the real date. 
In 1912, Halley's Comet will come again. It is a notable fact 
that the first cometary ellipse or path reckoned by man is the 
longest yet explored, and of the Comets positively known to 
come back, Halley's goes much the furthest. The records, such 



ASTRONOMY. 509 

as they are, lead man to believe that Halley's Comet was the 
Comet of 1066; and one which came eleven years before Christ 
can be traced, trip after trip, down to the present time, agreeing 
with the time and motions of, and perhaps being this same 
Halley's Comet. 

What did Encke's Comet teach us ? 

The Comet most talked about, of course, has been that one 
which has appeared the most frequently, having the smallest 
orbit to travel in. This is called Encke's Comet, and, strange as 
it would seem, it escaped thorough recognition as a regular 
visitor until 1818, although it had appeared every three and one- 
quarter years. The journeys of this Comet- revealed new. laws 
to Astronomy, and exploded the idea which had been tenaciously 
clung to in prior times, that outside space was mere nothing- 
ness. The Comet was found to go around the Sun from three 
to four hours sooner at every revolution. It was therefore 
conceived immediately that this Comet, and therefore all celes- 
tial bodies, passed through a something that, though not air, 
was yet something rather than nothing, and so, by friction, 
really retarded the Comet just that much, and drew it a little 
nearer the Sun. This theory is strengthened by the belief, now 
universal, that light will not shine through a vacuum, and that 
we would not be able to see the Stars were not this same thin 
medium diffused through space, making light-waves possible. 
If Halley's Comet u slows up " then every other body must do so 
in the same proportion, but as these Comets are so light and thin 
as to let a Star shine through them, the effect of friction would 
tell on them the first of all. 

The Comet of 1770, became mixed up in the four Moons of 
Jupiter, and although it dodged around and finally emerged 
from its difficulties with a path greatly changed in direction, 
still not one of the little Moons was in the least affected by the 
mishap. Next, this celestial moth "struck'" the Earth, but the 
stroke did not move the terrestrial globe, as would certainly 
have been the result had the Comet possessed any appreciable 
density. After Comets got inside the Earth's orbit, they would, 
if they were not mere "bubbles," give the appearance of Venus, 



510 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

Mercury and the Moon — that is, show off horns and phases™ 
but the sunlight does not operate on their heads. Also, when 
they go around the Sun, they approach so close as to be heated 
two thousand times hotter than red hot iron, and no body of 
real matter would ever retain even fluid form at that tempera- 
ture. From these proofs it is set down that they must be made 
of the lightest kinds of gas. 

Mention the Recent Comets ? 

Most adults remember the beautiful Comet of 1858. On the 
2d of June, in that year, Dr. Donati, of Florence, Italy, dis- 
covered it in his telescope, and it was called Donati's Comet. In 
September, everybody could see it. It went around the sun 
within a few weeks after it came in sight, on the 29th of Septem- 
ber and on its outward journey, showed a tail vastly elongated. 
At one time in October, this appendage measured fifty million 
miles. On the 5th of October, the Comet passed the Star 
Arcturus (referred to previously), and although its tail was 
several thousand miles thick, still the star shone much brighter 
than it would have done in unobstructed air, earlier in the sum- 
mer, when the atmosphere was not so favorable for the passage 
of starlight. The Astronomers believe that this Comet will be 
back in two thousand years. 

A hazy Comet, without much tail, appeared in 1861. Although 
it afforded a small show to people " out West," still, in England 
it was a great sight, having a tail much the longest seen in 
modern times, and perfectly straight. The velocity with which 
it came into the Planetary region of the Solar System, outrivaled 
that of all previous cometary apparitions, and although it was 
first seen afar off in the telescope in May, the Earth passed 
through its tail on the 3^th of June, and a phosphorescent glare 
is said to have been noticed in the atmosphere in the night. 

In 1874, Coggia's Comet, as it was called, was seen in our 
northwestern heavens. This was one of those Comets which 
throw a large quantity of their elementary gas or matter in 
front of them, leaving the ball half concealed or beclouded in- 
side, instead of a small Star-like head, as seen in the Comet of 
1858. It was a great Comet, and was subjected to a scrunity, 



ASTRONOMY. 511 

the most scientific bestowed on any of its gender up to that 
time. 

In 1881, there were three visible Comets, and two of them 
were to be seen at once. 

The great Comet of 1882, came up from below the South Pole, 
and was first seen at Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Its tail extended over 
half way across the heavens. The head was at the east, low 
down, in the early morning, and the tail spread straight west, 
half way between the zenith and the southern horizon, It was 
the greatest Comet since 1858. 

What are Astronomic Measurements f 

When the Astronomer measures the distance of the Earth, he 
does so by the semi-diameter of the Earth, that is, by a line 
which would reach to the center of the Earth. He calls the 
distance to the sun so many semi-diameters, but he does not 
know how long a semi-diameter is nearly so certainly as that so 
many of them would carry him to the Sun. He knows how 
much the Earth weighs, but it is only in the same way. It 
weighs a certain fraction of the weight of the Sun, whatever that 
may be in pounds or anything else. If he be wrong in any one 
calculation, all others must be changed accordingly. If the 
Earth be nearer the Sun than he think, then it weighs more 
than he supposes. If it weigh more without being nearer, then 
it is smaller. Once settle the distance of the Sun so that all 
Astronomers shall agree, and then it will be possible to proceed 
with other calculations without being in the position of a man 
who is erecting on jack-screws a house to be forty feet high, 
without knowing whether the jack-screws are to lift or lower 
the house in the end. 

What is Weight ? 

The attraction of gravitation called " weight" varies at every 
differing distance from the center of the predominant attraction. 
If you had a spring weighing-scale and hooked a pail of water 
upon it which weighed ten pounds at the foot of a mountain, 
you would find, if you got to the top of the mountain, that it 
weighed only, say, nine and one-half pounds, the attraction of 
the Earth being weakened by distance from its center. Of 



512 7 HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

course, balances would weigh the same above as below, for the 
attraction would pull equally on each side, and a u pound 
weight" would weigh lighter also, thus requiring as much 
nominal weight to balance the water as would do that same 
thing down below. So again, if you descend a mine, your 
spring-scale will weigh things lighter than it would at the 
surface. This is not theory, but has been practically demon- 
strated. 

How is error guarded against ? 

The observations of Astronomers, however, are carried on in 
a manner devised to weed out all mechanical errors alone. An 
Astronomer makes five hundred separate calculations regarding 
one subject. Each of these processes may vary a trifle. He 
adds them all together and divides by the number of calcula- 
tions, thus " averaging his error " and calling the outcome of 
the division the desired result. Then some other Astronomer 
does the same work. If his first set of calculations resemble his 
associate's closely, he also averages them, not accepting any one 
calculation, but rather trusting the average. After ten Astrono- 
mers have got an average from five hundred calculations, then 
an average of the ten would be considered as nearly correct as 
human beings could afford to secure. 

Tell me now something of the History of Astronomy? 

While Astronomy seems to be the most noble, it has also the 
distinction of being the most ancient, of all sciences. This is 
probably owing to the intimate relations w r hich have existed 
between Astronomy and Religion. Certain it is, however, that 
while we dignify the early study of Astronomy by the appella- 
tion of Science, it was little more than a collation of idle fancies, 
and an exaggerated and useless record of unusual events, prin- 
cipally cometary appearances. Such seem to have been the 
data acquired during thousands of years by the Chinese, 
although their pretensions are much greater. Astronomy was 
born in Chaldea. There, on the plains surrounding what grew 
to be the mighty Babylon, the outstretching soul of man 
grappled with the problems presented to him, and built a solid 
foundation for the erection of the stately edifice which has now 



ASTRONOMY. 513 

arisen aloft. The Chaldeans, watching all the eclipses that 
happened during nineteen hundred years, as they claimed, 
discovered that eclipses took place after the same manner every 
eighteen years and ten days, and, without a knowledge of the 
heavenly motions, and with only this discovery of what is called 
the Lunar Cycle, they were able to predict these sudden obscu- 
rations of the Sun or Moon. Their records have furnished 
modern Astronomers with most valuable aid in discovering a 
logical passage for Reason over threatening obstacles to success. 
By their long table of eclipses, Dr. Halley was afterward enabled 
to guess, and subsequently to prove, that the Moon's path has 
narrowed in, and the velocity of her motion around the Earth 
increased, like Encke's Comet. 

What did the Egyptians do f 

They had a Sothian Cycle, Sothis being their name for Sirius. 
They had the Zodiac, first without a Balance in it, the Balance 
being called the claws of the Scorpion. The history of the 
Zodiac is still to be written. On this subject, and archaeology in 
general, the great Lenormant stands alone. The Twins are the 
Brother Enemies that founded all cities. The Bull may be 
Money. Astrology flourished in Egypt, and the seven Planets 
(Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), gave the 
days to the week, and presided over the twelve months. 

Who was Thales ? 

Six hundred and forty years before Christ, Thales, a Greek 
philosopher, began the real, authentic history and science of 
Astronomy. Before that the Greeks had navigated out of sight 
of shore with the Big Dipper for a guide. Thales taught the 
Greeks that Ursa Minor was less changeable. He believed the 
Earth to be round. Having little to guide his reason, he joined 
a great deal of absurdity to the morsels of truth which were 
granted him, and held that the Earth was the centre of the 
Universe. 

Who was Pythagoras ? 

One hundred and forty years after Thales came Pythagoras, 
who professed that the Sun was the centre of things, and that 
the Morning and Evening Stars were the same Planet. 

33 



514 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

Who was Nicetas ? 

One hundred and thirty years afterward, Nicetas of Syracuse, 
taught that the Earth revolved daily on its axis. 

What Astronomers lived at Alexandria ? 

Three hundred years before Christ, the city of Alexandria, in 
Egypt, had grown to be the intellectual metropolis of the world. 
Here, accordingly, was honor done to the heavenly science and 
brilliant discoveries added to the treasury of its truths. Here 
Trigonometry and Geometry, the handmaidens of Astronomy, 
were born. The science of angles was immediately resorted to 
in measurements, and, although the theories formulated at 
Alexandria were altogether false, and even further from the 
truth than those of Pythagoras, still they were scientific results 
of the mistaken senses of man, and would have convinced the 
guessing Pythagoras of their correctness, had he been alive. 
They had the merit of overthrowing themselves by their own 
correctness of detail, thus aiding in the final discovery of the 
true theory. Here Aristarchus mapped the stars of the Zodiac, 
so that Hipparchus afterward discovered the precession of the 
equinoxes. Following Aristarchus came Eratosthenes, who 
proceeded to cast up the circumference of the Earth on correct 
principles. Euclid, the father of Geometry, lived at this time. 

Who was Hipparchus? 

On the Island of Rhodes, Hipparchus, the greatest of ancient 
seers, pursued his studies, and found out far more concerning 
the science than can one man out of ten thousand now-a-days, 
2,000 years later. With his instruments, he watched the passage 
of the Sun across the sky, and determined that its motion was 
faster at one time than at another. He thus became convinced 
that, if the motion of the Sun were uniform, then the Earth was 
not in the center of the Sun's path, which would be nearly true 
if the traveling be credited to the real traveler. He marked and 
numbered the Earth and Heavens with lines of latitude and 
longitude, whereby he could describe any spot on the Earth or 
in the skies, and his determination of the length of the year was 
very close to the true one. To him belongs the honor of finding 
the backward movement of the North Pole, which will become 



ASTRONOMY, 515 

a circular movement when enough thousands of years have 
flown and which was never accounted for until the coming into 
the World of Newton, seventeen hundred years afterward. This 
was the precession of the equinoxes, and, of course, the rj^ove- 
ment was then transferred to, and believed to take place in, the 
Stars. Hipparchus mapped one thousand and eighty-one Stars, 
a vast and magnificent labor. It is, therefore, small wonder 
that all nations have remembered with admiration the man who, 
as a sentry holding an outpost of vital importance in the hostile 
territory of Ignorance and Error, did not parley with the enemy 
by a wasteful invention of baseless theories, but steadily labored 
in completing defenses which have never been overthrown* 

Who was Ptolemy f 

After Hipparchus, at a lapse of two hundred and fifty years, 
there arose an Astronomer who has probably secured more 
attention than his real merit has deserved. He was a philos- 
opher, however, of commanding intelligence, and, with the 
appropriated knowledge of all his predecessors, formulated a 
theory of the Universe which stood before and beclouded the 
march of Reason for thirteen hundred years. This theory was 
the Ptolemaic System, accepted by the Church as the true and 
only Astronomy, and really agreeing very well with the ruder 
of the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies. The Earth, 
according to Ptolemy, was the immovable center of the Uni- 
verse. Around the Earth in succession, moved the Moon, Mer- 
cury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Star-sphere. 
It seems from this, that it could be seen at that time that some 
of the roaming Stars called Planets went beyond the Sun. All 
these bodies (Ptolemy believed) traveled around the Earth in 
twenty-four hours. To account for certain irregularities which 
he observed, he placed the Earth at varying points in the orbits 
of the bodies which revolved around it, and as criticism soon 
grew fat on its prey, the scheme was changed so that the Plan- 
ets were held to move in loops, or little circles on large circles. 
This theory would account for what we now-a-days see in watch- 
ing Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; for our rapid motion in front of 
the fixed Stars, frequently gives an outside Planet, which is also 



5 1 6 THE FIRESIDE I \\I I ERSIT} \ 

traveling forward, but at a slower rate of speed, the exact 
appearance of going backward. Then, when the Earth has £one 
the length of her short orbit and rapidly draws around the Sun, 
the Planet further out, with a longer orbit, keeps going ahead. 
Now, its forward motion can be seen, and, as we swing on the 
other side, backward ourselves, all our motion goes, seemingly, to 
hasten the outer Planet's progress, and so it seems to go back- 
ward and forward, and stand still, just as it would if it were 
going around a small circle on its large circle. This is called a 
node or knot. In addition to his System, which was written in 
a great book called u Almagest,'' Ptolemy handed down, in 
a collected form, all that had been known of Astronomy up to 
his time, and it is to him that we owe our information concern- 
ing the advance of the science among the Greeks. The most 
important discovery by Ptolemy was the slight wabbling of the 
Moon, called libration. 

Who was Giber? 

Astronomy now slept for five hundred years, and we next see 
the Arabs advancing the bounds of the realm of celestial know- 
ledge. Passing the M good old Haroun Alraschid " who loved 
Astronomy, we come to a prince in Mesopotamia called Albate- 
qui or Mohammed Ben Geber. The most valuable discovery of 
this observer was, that the perihelion of the Earth must change, 
which phenomenon has previously been illustrated in swinging 
the hoop around the finger, and is caused by the wabble of the 
Earth which we have called the precession of the equinoxes. 
Geber lived about S50, A. D., and wrote several books, which 
after being collected and translated, in 1537, into Latin under 
the title of '"'The Science of the Stars,'' by men who had much 
difficulty in understanding Arabic, not to speak of Astronomy ; 
and after then being put in English by men who knew no Arabic, 
no Astronomy and " small Latin/' are believed in their English 
form to have given rise to the expressive word " gibberish " in 
our present vocabulary, as the only term which would convey 
an adequate impression of the high union of absurdity and 
vagary attained in Gebers work, as published by the English 
alchemists. 



ASTRONOMY. 517 

4 

Who was Ultigh Begh ? 

In 1433, A. D., Uiugh Begh, a Tartar Prince of profound 
attainments, perfected an excellent catalogue of fixed Stars, the 
first for sixteen hundred years, which by its accuracy contributed 
vastly to the material with which Astronomers operated. 

Who was Copernicus f 

On the 19th of February, 1473, at Thorn, in Prussia, there was 
born to the wife of a surveyor a child who was destined to lay 
out work for the mind of man for much future time. This man, 
Nicholas Copernicus, after reasoning upon the Ptolemaic 
System, which had triumphantly stood the brunt of sixteen 
hundred years of objections, and which had become crystallized 
into the holy religion of good men, entirely overthrew the whole 
fabric, and erected a theory upon which time and unparalleled 
discoveries have placed the crown and the seal of legitimacy. It 
is upon the Copernican System that all which the preceding 
pages have aimed to elucidate has been based. The great book 
which demonstrated the truths of Astronomy, doomed, at a 
later period, to be declared so heretical by the Church of Rome, 
was, singularly enough, published by Canon Nicholas Coperni- 
cus, an inferior dignitary of that same Church, without 
awakening the alarm of the most apprehensive of its censors. 
Copernicus disseminated his views in peace, and died May 22, 
1543, after seeing the printed page in his own hands which was 
so soon to disturb heavenly science even more thoroughly than 
Martin Luther was then disturbing heavenly belief. 

Who was Tycho Brake ? 

Another, but less remarkable Astronomer entered the World 
as the great Copernicus left it. This was Tycho Brahe, a Dane, 
educated at Copenhagen. This man, by the dilligence with 
which he pursued the problems presented to his mind, gained 
great celebrity, and was made the recipient of distinguished 
favors from the reigning sovereigns of his age. But the favors 
of princes are not enduring, and Tycho Brahe, when fitted out 
with magnificent astronomical appanage and opulent income, is 
soon seen to excite the envy of less meritorious rivals in royal 
esteem, and with bitterness of heart, to set sail from Denmark for 



518 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

more hospitable shores, to there almost exactly repeat the pain- 
ful experience of falling from exalted regard to miserable 
neglect. Although he rejected the Copernican System, and 
constructed a scheme which soon was proven fallacious, yet his 
practical observations were so correct, that he made Kepler's 
discoveries possible, and has, with all his oddities, won immortal 
fame. The phenomenon of refraction, by which the Sun or 
Moon or any body looks so much larger at rising or setting than 
when overhead, had its first explanation at his hands. A person 
in spearing a fish, will notice that, when the fish is directly under 
the boat, the spear goes directly down, to the eye, but the 
further away the fish may be from the side of the boat, the 
greater will be the apparent bend in the handle of the spear 
where it enters the water. It is so with a ray ot light. When 
it is thrust into the atmosphere horizontally, it bends the most, 
and, as that spreads the rays, and as the eye has nothing to 
judge by but the ends of the rays as it sees them, the object 
sending out the rays is greatly magnified. As the object ascends 
the heavens and spears its rays down upon us, the refraction 
disappears, and we literally "see straight," barring the aberra- 
tion of light, another but smaller illusion. 

Who was Kepler ? 

The illustrious Kepler was a pupil of Tycho Brahe, and was 
destined to overthrow his master's system of the Universe. The 
pertinacity of Hipparchus, finds in the incredible assiduity of 
Kepler a superior rival for the admiration of posterity. Indeed, 
the perseverance which unfolded to Kepler and to mankind the 
inner mysteries of the Universe, has no equal in the annals of 
history. Up to this time, the idea of perfect circles in the 
heavenly motions had never been so much as questioned. 
Hipparchus had maintained untarnished loyalty to the belief in 
the circular path of the Sun, by accounting for the irregular 
motion on the theory that the Earth was out of the center of the 
true circle which the Sun cut in the heavens. Kepler watched 
the Planets move from Star to Star in the southern sky of the 
northern hemisphere, and became convinced that he could finally 
figure out their true paths. Rejecting the highly-complicated 






ASTRONOMY. 519 

System of his master, Tycho Brahe at once, and making the Sun 
the center, he began a most careful scrutiny of the Planet Mars. 
Tfcie node or knot of this outside Planet, gives a peculiar 
motion as seen from the Earth, At only one point in its circle 
does it seem to make the small circle, owing to its nearness to 
our path, while the great Planets Jupiter and Saturn, traveling 
so far off, go along on their little sub-circles (epicycles) in a very 
orderly manner, making the backward and forward movements 
all around their orbits at regular intervals. Beginning and 
calculating the action of Mars, Kepler found that a circular path 
was not possible for the journeys of that Planet. Having 
rejected the true circle, he must make another orbit and then 
find if the motion of Mars agreed with his new scheme. As each 
new orbit must be experimented upon until slow-going Mars 
had proved its falsity, and as the patient investigator was 
relentlessly condemned to see the ruddy object of his attention 
move out of the path conceived as the proper one for the large 
number of nineteen successive times, it may easily be understood 
that this great test occupied a period of eight years. Had his 
false theories attained a still nearer step toward, without quite 
attaining to accuracy, he might have been kept the whole of 
nineteen years in doubt. The multiplication of circles having 
proved barren of satisfactory results, Kepler adopted an ellipse 
as a probable orbit, and taking what was good for Mars to be 
good for the Earth, upon getting the orbit which a Planet should 
make under such complex circumstances (the observer being 
also whirled along on an ellipse) through our heavens, was 
overjoyed to see his assumed orbit become at every point the 
real path of the perplexing War-Star. 

What was Kepler's First Law ? 

All Planets move in ellipses, the Sun being at one end of the 
ellipse. Taking the path of a Planet as the felloe of an ill-shapen 
wagon-wheel, let us put the hub considerably nearer one side of 
the felloe or tire than the other side, not to speak of the ill-shape 
which would make us do that a little, anyway. Now, let us put 
in spokes, so that if the wheel lay in a field and were big, there 
would be an acre of ground fenced in by each two spokes and 



520 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

the outside felloe. It will be seen that, inasmuch as the spokes 
on one side are much shorter than those on the opposite side, 
they must be set wider apart to get an acre in between any two 
of them. The long spokes must then, it follows, be close 
together and the short ones widely separated. 

What was Kepler's Second Law ? 

The Earth, traveling on the felloe round the hub, must go 
from spoke to spoke in equal periods of time, no matter what 
the distance. Kepler's second law translated, reads: "The 
velocity of any Planet, at any point in its orbit is such, that the 
line drawn from it to the Sun must always describe equal spaces 
in equal times." When the Astronomer speaks of this principle 
he calls Kepler's second great discovery "the law of the 
equable description of areas." 

What was Kepler's Third Law ? 

By even greater exertions, and after disappointments more 
depressing than those which had marked his previous labors, 
Kepler groped out into the dark to find some mathematical 
relation between the distances of the Planets from the Sun and 
their time of revolution. By an odd misfortune, when he was 
once on the right scent, on account of an error in adding up a 
column, he obtained a disheartening result, and thus again 
wandered off into new fields of misadventure. Having long 
abandoned what seemed a useless attempt, he was one day 
casually and gloomily scanning an old calculation (the very one 
with the mistake in it) when his eye fell on the error, and 
Kepler's Third Law was the result : "The squares of the periodic 
times of any two Planets bear the same proportion to each other 
as the cubes of their mean distances." The use of this law was, 
that it told the distance roughly of any two Planets the moment 
the time of two and the distance of one was ascertained. The 
square of a number is that number multiplied by itself. The 
square of 3 is 3 times 3 or 9. The cube of 3 is 3 times 3 times 
3, that is, a double multiplication by the first number. Three 
times 3 are 9, 3 times 9 are 27. Therefore, to take rough num- 
bers, if we should wish to find (by the Earth) how far off Venus 
might be from the Sun, we would watch her and find by our 



ASTRONOMY. 521 

eyes that she is in front of the same Star, after accounting for 
everything, once every two hundred and twenty-four days. We 
therefore multiply 224 by 224, and 365 (our year expressed in 
days) by 365. The difference between these large numbers is 
then traced, say as 2 to 3. Then our distance from the Sun of 
ninety-two million miles is multiplied by ninety-two million, and 
the result again multiplied by ninety-two million. This colossal 
cube, whatever it may be, is to the unknown cube as 3 to 2, 
whenever it is found. Suppose (to get at it) the gigantic cube 
which we would get by multiplying 92,000,000 twice to be 96. 
Now that 96 is known to be to the unknown as 3 to 2, therefore, 
one-third larger. So the unknown cube must be sixty-four or 
two-thirds of ninety-six, and when the cube root of this sixty- 
four, or the small number (4) which twice multiplied would 
make 64 is found, then the mathematician has the distance of 
Venus. In this case, the small number would represent sixty- 
six million miles, the distance of Venus. These remarkable 
laws were immediately tried by all Astronomers and found to be 
true. New worlds were discovered, and the same laws operated 
with them. One Planet was found to have eight Moons, and 
the same three laws were set over them and tallied to their 
motions. By these labors it now became possible to say of any 
Planet that, on a given moment, it would be in front of say, 
the constellation Leo in the Zodiac, a thing impossible there- 
tofore. 

What of Kepler's Book — " Astronomia Nova ? " 

This great man grasped as near to the essential law of gravita- 
tion, yet undiscovered, as he had to his Third Law, in his earlier 
quest of it, and, by his belief in the existence of some attractive 
force between any two Planets, and his clear and certain exposi- 
tion of that belief in the book which he printed, has given cause 
for astonishment to every philosopher since his time who has 
contemplated the ease with which Kepler might have seated 
himself upon the intellectual throne so soon to be ascended by 
Sir Isaac Newton. When the book containing the marvelous 
old man's discoveries was opened to his gaze, he said in his 
transports of joy: " The die is cast. This book is written to be 



522 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

read either now or by posterity, I care not which. It may well 
wait a century for a reader, since God has waited six thousand 
years for an observer. " We must reverence the confidence of 
this hoary sage, who, possessing the most critical and doubt- 
raising mind of Earth's living creatures, had, after twenty years 
of incessant idol-breaking, at last erected a shrine before which 
his satisfied reason bent in unquestioning fidelity. As had 
happened to Tycho Brahe, and to many other great hearts, the 
man of science was not considered so obviously necessary as a 
costly-caparisoned horse, and the difficulty with which Kepler 
obtained from the royal funds enough to support him during 
his ceaseless observations, was sufficient to worry him into his 
grave. He was buried November 5, 1631, old style, at Ratisbon, 
for a long time the city in which the Congress of the old German 
Empire was held. 

Who was Galileo ? 

Contemporary with Kepler lived Galilei Galileo, the inventor 
of the telescope. The life of this martyr to Astronomy must, 
perhaps, be the most familiar of any of the early seers. By his 
discovery of the ring-peculiarity of Saturn, the Moons of Jupi- 
ter, the spots on the Sun, the phases of Venus and the 
mountains of the Moon, he became at once famous, much as 
Edison, in our day, appeared at the top of the ladder before any 
one knew there was a man climbing. The Church, however, 
holding that such Biblical recitals as that relating to Joshua and 
his command to the Sun to stand still, indicated the Ptolemaic 
as the System sanctioned by Scripture, looked upon Galileo as 
a destroyer of religion. The doctrines of Galileo being found 
to take quick root in the popular mind, it was thought necessary 
by the heads of the Church to punish an author who was so 
rapidly consigning souls to perdition. Galileo was summoned 
to Rome. He was put to the tortures of the Inquisition, proba- 
bly mildly administered in consideration of his years and dignity, 
and then left to prepare his defense. The poor old man, having 
abjured such opinions as the one induced by discovering 
Jupiter's Moons, namely, that there was a proof that the Earth, 
having a Moon, also revolved, as did Jupfter with his Moons, 






ASTRONOMY. 523 

and all the other truths which he had advanced, was sentenced 
by the ignorant men forming the Inquisition to imprisonment 
during their pleasure. He was kept in the dungeons only four 
days, being afterward permitted to return to and remain at his 
home in Tuscany, under guard of the Inquisitors. But woes 
accumulated on the discoverer's head. His daughter died, he 
became totally deaf, and being prostrated with fever and heart 
disease, he yielded up his soul January 8th, 1642, aged 78 years. 
Galileo discovered that bodies fall faster as they fall, and that a 
pendulum in swinging, occupies exactly the same time whether 
swinging either a short or a long distance each side of the center. 

Who was Napier ? 

Betwen Kepler and Newton was the discovery by Napier, a 
Scotchman, of logarithms, which must be defined to those 
unacquainted with a better meaning, as a system of cut-and- 
dried figuring whereby the enormous labor of going over sums 
which have once been done by some other man can be wholly 
evaded. No Astronomer could live to work out some of his 
problems if he were forced to do all the adding and multiplying 
saved by this invention. 

Who was Newton ? 

A knowledge of the greatness of such men as Kepler serves as 
a logarithm to save words in expressing the grandeur of New- 
ton. The inquiring mind must feel that the lustre of Kepler's 
glory could be dimmed only before a transcendent flame of 
genius. The brain-power which was given by the Creator, at a 
later and bloodier epoch in the world's history, to Napoleon 
Bonaparte for the torment and affliction of weaker humanity, 
was, in the case of Newton, munificently bestowed for the 
advancement of knowledge and the triumph of reason. The 
fall of an apple in his orchard one day set him to pondering 
upon the speculation of Kepler, that the earth must move up to 
the apple. Cogitating upon the falling of bodies toward the 
Earth, he became convinced that the center of the Earth must 
be the seat of this attraction, and that, were a hole bored through 
the Earth and a car made to fit the hole, it would rush to the 
center of the Earth, then, with the momentum acquired, be 



524 ?HE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY, 

thrown past the center, like a pendulum, and then go up toward 
the surface on the other side less the retardation of the friction 
the lessening of bulk and the attraction toward the center. So 
it would oscillate, until finally, it would rest stationary at the 
center of the Earth, supported by nothing save equal attractions, 
and yet not falling out of place. With the discovery of Galileo 
at his disposal — that bodies keep falling faster and faster as they 
continue their descent to the Earth — he was convinced that 
whatever the force of attraction, which he named gravitation 
might be, it diminished in a regular degree as the object 
attracted was further separated from the attracting body. In 
order to convince himself of the existence of a law of attraction 
between bodies, it was needful to examine two bodies which 
were falling toward each other. As the Earth was so much 
larger than any body which could fall to its surface, he built up 
his theory, reckoned up the attraction which the Earth should 
exert on the Moon, and then, assuming that the Moon was 
moving through space propelled in a direct line at the time the 
attraction of the Earth was brought to bear upon her, he deter- 
mined to see if the amount which she veered from a straight line 
in every minute's journey was exactly equal to the distance 
which the attraction he had settled upon would draw her. First, 
it was necessary to compute the relative weights of the Earth 
and the Moon. Next, it was necessary to figure out the advan- 
tage the Earth would have over the Moon in an experiment near 
the surface of the Earth. Then, as the Moon is two hundred 
and thirty thousand miles away, and as this Moon would travel 
at such and such a force by the time it got to the Earth, and as it 
would have traveled faster every mile it fell toward the Earth, 
he must reckon back in accordance and find with what speed it 
originally started. This speed would be the superior attraction 
of the Earth and all bodies in the direction of the Earth over the 
Moon. 

What is a Calculus ? 

To calculate the exact amount a great body would veer from 
a straight line was not easy; and the reader will perhaps take an 
interest in examining one of the mathematical devices which 






ASTRONOMY, 525 

Newton invented, and which will give an idea of the nature of 
others which he used to accomplish his purpose: Let us sup- 
pose a railroad to run along the borders of farmer Roe's "place" 
for a mile, and gradually veer away, say to the left. Suppose, 
also a wagon road to run in a straight line past his farm and 
that the railroad and the wagon road are close together or cross 
at his farm. Let us suppose the farmers to reside at intervals 
of twenty miles for a great distance down this straight wagon 
road, and by some hocus-pocus, to be able to communicate 
together very easily, but to be entirely ignorant as to the course 
of this railroad after it veers from the wagon road at farmer 
Roe's place. Each farmer, however, is curious to know how far 
the railroad is from his place. The farmers begin a series of 
measurements. The farmer nearest Roe's place finds the rail- 
road to run four miles back of his place; the next farmer finds it 
seven, the next eleven, the next eighteen, the next thirty-one, 
the next fifty-four, the next ninety-cwo, the next one hundred 
arid fifty-one, the last taken, two hundred and thirty-eight. Now 
as each station gets further away from the wagon-road, let us 
suppose that the farmers set down the figures, to see if they can 
guess what the distance will be from the next farmer's place. It 
seems a very puzzling operation : 

4 7 n 18 31 54 9 2 I 5 I 2 3 8 
But there may be a law guiding the increase of these numbers. 
Let us suppose the railroad to be the path of a Planet, and the 
wagon road the direction it would have taken but for the attrac- 
tion of another body at the side of its path. Let us proceed to 
note the differences between these numbers, and then again the 
differences between the differences : 

Differences from the nine farms 4 7 11 18 31 54 92 151 238 

First differences 3 4 7 : 3 2 3 3 s 59 s 7 

Second differences 1 3 6 10 15 21 28 

Third differences 2345 6 7 

Here we have arrived at a demonstration that the railroad is 
moving off under the guidance of a perfectly-adjusted law. We 
can now go down to the tenth farmer, twenty miles below and 
tell him that his third difference is 8 ; that 8 and 2S make his 
second difference 36, that 36 and 87 make his first difference 123, 






526 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

and that 123 and 238 must be his distance from the railroad, or 
361 miles. This device is called a calculus of known differences, 
and is here applied to a case where the real distance of the rail- 
road could be ascertained at enough points to determine that it 
increased regularly. It is here shown as giving the reader a 
faint idea of the nature of a calculus, for there are several kinds 
— differential calculus and integral calculus having rendered the 
solution of problems in curves possible where no solution could 
be attained without their aid. Of course, if the railroad were 
turning a circle, like the Moon, it is easy to see that some farmer 
down the road would travel ahead forever without coming to 
the railroad, and that the little calculus here shown would be of 
no value. The honor of inventing these schemes for getting the 
exact measure of infinitesimal additions to a certain quantity by 
inferences drawn from inferences, belongs to two men, and 
furnished an exact parallel to the remarkable doubling of the 
discovery of Neptune by Adams and Leverrier. Both Newton 
and Leibnitz found independently the principle of fixing the 
amount added at each instant to the force of two unequal bodies 
moving toward each other, or like problems. This fact is now 
settled definitely, although there has been as much acrimony 
engendered concerning the invention of the calculi as afterward 
was brought forth by the wonderful coincidence in the success- 
ful efforts of Adams and Leverrier. 

How was the Law of Universal Gravitation found f 

The character of the mathematical labor upon which Newton 
now engaged was almost unprecedented in mathematics, and he 
was intensely disappointed to find, at the end of his figuring, 
which had occupied him several years, that, if the Moon were 
drawn round the Earth by any such attraction, that attraction 
would have to be about one-sixth greater than the Earth could 
really exert upon the Moon, according to the hypothesis. Thus 
was his theory — so harmonious and admirable to the mind — crush- 
ed by its own conclusions. Shortly after he had abandoned his 
problem, a philisopher named Picard, greatly corrected the 
human knowledge of the diameter of the Earth, and Newton, 
still tenaciously clinging to his hopes, cast up the amount of the 







ASTRONOMY. 527 

Earth's attraction on the basis of her altered size, and, as the 
gleam of truth shot out ahead of the slower progress of his 
figures, he was so overpowered with the importance of his 
demonstration, that he fainted, and was compelled to call in a 
friend to complete the details of the solution. The proof of the 
truth of his discovery lay in an immediate application of the 
new law to the Planets, and, thus fortified, the philosopher 
dared to speak to Dr. Halley, the second Royal Astronomer, 
who immediately recognized and promulgated the law of Uni- 
versal Gravitation, as follows: " t€ Every particle of matter in the 
Universe attracts every other particle with a force proportional to 
the quantity of matter contained in each, and decreasing inversely 
as the squares of their distances." Now, everybody can read 
and understand the foregoing until we get to the "decreasing 
inversely," etc. As has been said far back, a pail of water is 
counted for what it weighs on the ground. At four thousand 
miles from the surface of the Earth that same pail of water 
w r eighs — let us see : It is then eight thousand miles from the 
pail of water to the centre of the Earth, the pail of water is twice 
as far away from the center as it was on the ground, and the 
weight of the pail has "decreased inversely" according to the 
square of the distance. The distance is two times the distance 
at the ground; the " square of the distance" is two times two, 
and the pail's weight has decreased " inversely " — outside-in ; 
therefore, instead of the pail being four times as heavy, it is four 
times lighter, or weighs just one-quarter as much up four thou- 
sand miles in the air as it did at the surface of the Earth. The 
same law fails to operate on entering the Earth, because there- 
upon all the particles of matter "above" the pail of water begin 
to pull backward, detracting from the pulling power of the 
whole Earth. So, also, the Moon is sixty times further from the 
terrestrial centre than the ground; sixty times sixty makes 
thirty-six hundred, therefore, the Moon is attracted to the Earth 
only one-thirty-six hundredth as forcibly as it would be at the 
surface of the Earth. By this law, if we imagined a hypothet- 
ical station in space without any weight of its own, and if we 
ourselves weighed nothing, we could throw two apples clown 
into space at any distance apart (they would not fall) and 



528 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

the two apples would slowly begin to revolve around each 
other until they finally came together. With this law discov- 
ered, Astronomy became perfect. No Planet had any motion 
that was not influenced by other bodies. The theory of Uni- 
versal Gravitation, as it is the central and fundamental law of 
Astronomy and of Nature (being at least half and perhaps the 
whole of the phenomena of motion), has received the severest 
examination and the most frequent vindication of all Nature's 
canons, and a great portion of the labor accomplished by 
Astronomers since Newton's time has been the completion of all 
the details and consequences of his law. It is a cant of our 
customs and manners to-day, that an exception proves the rule. 
A single exception to Universal Gravitation would pluck from it 
every vestige of its authority in the mind of man, and relegate 
it to the company of the experimental theories which it had sup- 
planted. Newton demonstrated the necessity of a wabble in the 
motion of the Earth from her moving seas and shifting shape; 
and the precession of the equinoxes was found to be that wabble. 
He determined that the orbits of Comets should be reckoned up, 
and his friend, Dr. Halley, computed a seventy-six year tourist of 
that kind. He made hundreds of inferior but remarkable dis- 
coveries, and finally died on Monday, March 27, 1727, the 
delight of his species for all time. 

What did Halley and Bradley do f 

Of Dr. Halley's principal achievement you already know. He 
also was the first to utilize the transits of the inside Planets for 
the purpose of ascertaining the distance of the Sun. Succeeding 
Dr. Halley as Royal Astronomer of England, came Bradley. 
This justly distinguished scientist was among the first to attempt 
practically, and with chances of success, the measurement of the 
Stars. Directing his observations to a certain Star he obtained 
a parallax, or change of position, by views from different stand- 
points; but finally, while in quest of a different object, discovered 
the nineteen-year wabble of the Earth, called nutation, and the 
aberration of light, which completely dissipated what little 
parallax he had obtained. The aberration of light is caused by 
the atmosphere carrying a ray of light along a little before it 
pierces all the way through to the ground. The atmosphere is 









ASTRONOMY. 529 

o 

moving rapidly with the Earth. It makes a slight advance while 
the ray is traveling from the upper portion of the air to the 
bottom. As happens in refraction, the eye follows the ray up 
out of the atmosphere, and the Star is jogged over two-thirds of 
a minute of arc. This must always be accounted for in placing 
a Star, and the Star reckoned as being where our deluded 
senses refuse to acknowledge it to be. When the cannon 
flashes at a distance, we must believe that the report sounds at 
that moment, although the sound comes to us long after the 
light. The principle is not the same, but there is a likeness in 
the illusion. In the case of aberration, the light, swift as it is, 
cannot dart entirely through our atmosphere until the Earth 
has moved along a little. 

Who was Herschel ? 

Sir William Herschel, born in Hanover, in 1768, settled at 
Bath, England, and there added to the possibilities of Astron- 
omy the wonders of the Star-depths, compared with which the 
motions and laws of the Solar System are but as prefatory 
matters to introduce the subject and fix the attention of the 
investigator. In scanning the heavens with the largest telescope 
which had been perfected at that date, he discovered the Planet 
Uranus, the Star immediately becoming enlarged in the field of 
his glass and arresting his gaze. He afterward found the 
Moons of Uranus, saw the belts of Saturn, and became satisfied 
that there were several rings around the Planet. Rising above 
the affairs of the Sun and his progeny, he determined that the 
whole Solar System is moving toward the constellation Hercules. 
This is still inculcated as correct doctrine by the greatest of 
observers. While attracted by the marvels unfolded before his 
eyes, Herschel discovered that not only were the Stars frequently 
double and triple, but they were of differing colors and varying 
intensity. (See Spectroscope). 

Who was Piazzi ? 

Piazzi, the discoverer of the first Asteroid, lived at Palermo, 
Italy, and was born in 1746. He completed a catalogue of 
six thousand seven hundred and forty-eight Stars, a monument 



530 T H E FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 

of devotion to his science, and the fountain of unalloyed admi 
ration among all the Astronomers of his age. 

Speak of the French Mathematicians, 

The same generation produced three of the most remarkable 
figurers the world has ever seen — Clairaut, D'Alembert and 
Euler. To them was the labor apportioned to set a Solar Sys- 
tem going and control its innumerable motions by the simple 
law Newton had left to the world. This triumph of math- 
ematics — although it put Gravitation to the very rack, so to 
speak, and for a time, by an error which all three of these great 
scholars fell into, appeared to place Newton back among the 
guessers who had guessed wrong — finally crowned the Newton- 
ian Ordinance of the Heavens with everlasting dignity, and 
confirmed it as the most important effort of human genius. 

Who was LaPlace? 

LaGrange and LaPlace were competitors for the undivided 
intellectual honors of their time, each knowing no rival save the 
other, and each feeling the plaudits of this narrow world, if 
divided and shared with the other, insufficient to compensate his 
merit. They lived in the exciting era of civil revolution and 
Napoleonic adventure, and both received high honors during 
their careers. With these men, the shape of every planetary 
path in space was as familiarly in the mind as is the map-con- 
figuration of Iowa with a bright schoolboy of that state. With 
them the most intricate system of figuring then known, the dif- 
ferential calculus, became rude and imperfect, and accordingly 
was raised to perfection as an instrument to demonstrate the 
laws of motion and the inevitable action of moving bodies, if their 
numbers, weight and starting-places be fixed. Of the two, La 
Place, perhaps, gained the most enduring renown by his work 
called the "Mecanique Celeste," which is the French way of say- 
ing Heavenly Mechanics. After the lapse of several hundred 
years, Englishmen have fallen in the habit of putting a letter s 
on such words as "metaphysics," "dynamics," etc. They are, 
however, still single words in "number." Thus, you would say 
"Physics is so-and-so," and not "Physics are." The French 
have never made any alteration in such words, and use them all 



ASTRONOMY. 531 

as we use "logic/' "music" and "arithmetic/* which are precisely 
alike in their original shape in the Greek. This word "mechan- 
ics" means the law of motion. The "Mecanique Celeste" is the 
greatest work on Astronomy ever published, but would have 
little value for the unscientific reader. It makes five great vol- 
umes, and is divided into sixteen "books/' The French, with 
many other nations, use the word "book" differently from our 
common employment of the term. It does not mean, ordinarily, 
so great a quantity of reading matter, and is more like a "book 
in the Bible," as we say, although Bible itself means "book." 
The reader may perhaps form a fair notion of the con- 
tents of the "Mecanique Celeste" by scanning the titles 
of the "books," where every one of the subjects is treated with- 
out abridgement, and with all the cabalistic letters and marks 
adopted by mathematicians, i. The General Laws of Equil- 
ibrium and Motion. 2. The Law of Universal Gravitation 
and the Motion of the Centers of Gravity of the 
Celestial Bodies. 3. The Figures of the Celestial Bodies. 4. 
The Oscillation of the Sea and Atmosphere. 5. The Rotation 
of the Celestial Bodies. 6. Particular Theories of the Planets. 
7. Theory of the Moon. 8. Theory of the Satellites of Jupiter 
Saturn and Uranus. 9. Theory of Comets. 10. Miscellanea, 
Refraction, etc. 11. Figure and Rotation of the Earth. 12. 
Attraction and Repulsion of the Spheres and the Statics and 
Dynamics of Elastic Fluids. 13. Oscillation of Fluids Cover- 
ing Planets. 14. Precession, Libration and the Rings of 
Saturn. 15. Supplement to the Book on Universal Gravitation. 
16. Further Views Concerning the Satellites. This work is 
probably imperishable as the term is ordinarily used, and, 
although like other monuments of human wisdom it may receive, 
as already has happened, the explanatory attention of learned 
and clear-speaking editors and annotators, still there will always 
stand the original text for the satisfaction of him who loves to 
read the original words of the Master. 

Who was Arago ? 

Arago, who died in 1853, after an eventful life, is celebrated 
for the advancement which science received at his hands 
through his measurements of the Earth and the Planets, his 



532 



THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY. 






investigations into the nature of light, and his discovery of the 
generation of electricity in the spinning of the Earth. The 
history of Arago is a most interesting and romantic recital. The 
exploits of his early life, growing out of his attempts to measure 
the circle described by the Earth's surface on a line from north 
to south, would fill a volume by themselves. 

When did Leverrier die ? 

Leverrier died in 1876. The Astronomical discovery which 
has made him famous, has been talked about in the paragraph 
concerning the Planet Neptune. 





Fig. 174. ORION. 



ASTRONOMY. 533 

Who was Rosse ? 

in April, 1842, the Earl of Rosse, an Englishman, erected at 
Parsonstown, not far from Dublin in Ireland, the largest 
telescope known up to that date. This instrument cost one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The metal reflector, or 
mirror, in this telescope, weighed three tons, and was annealed 
(gradually heated and cooled) sixteen weeks in order to prevent 
the least cracking or warping of the great mass of metal. There 
is no rainbow wanted in a great telescope, and yet " all the 
trouble in the world " has to be lavished on the instrument to 
avoid that appearance, and this mirror or reflector is one of the 
principal devices to that end. With the twelve-ton telescope 
thus constructed, the mist in the Milky way, the double Stars, 
the surface of the Moon, and the Nebulae were gazed upon with 
new emotions, and the limitless character of the Universe 
impressed upon the beholder. Lord Rosse died in 1867. Tele- 
scopes were later made by Alvan Clark, of Boston, and by Ger- 
man and French opticians, much larger in magnifying power than 
that of Lord Rosse. An invention by Newton which made the use 
of silvered glass possible in place of the enormous mass of metal 
previously required for a reflector, led to the practicable enlarge- 
ment of the telescope. There is little doubt that men will, one 
of these days, bring the Moon within a few miles of the Earth, 
and settle all questions as to its utter desolation and sepulchral 
absence of life. 

Who was Proctor ? 

Perhaps the best known Astronomer in our times was Richard 
A. Proctor, of England. His thorough learning in Astronomy 
and its attendant studies was conceded, and his efforts to get 
the sublime phenomena of the science in full view of the people 
met with success. In 1873 and 1874, he lectured in the principal 
cities of America, presenting magic lantern pictures of the 
heavenly bodies as seen in the largest telescopes at the most 
favorable times, and reducing the troublesome operation oi 
getting "a good look" at Jupiter, Mars, the Moon, the Sun's 
spots, and, above all, the Nebulae, to a luxury. Mr. Proctor's 
efforts in mapping the Stars stamped him as an indefatigable 



534 THE FIRESIDE UNIVERSITY 

worker for the real advancement of human inquiry. He had 
taken his residence in America, at St. Joseph, Mo., when he 
suddenly died, and was mourned as the one man who had done 
most to educate the people in Astronomy. He wrote the great 
article on Astronomy in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia 
Britannica, He died of yellow fever while in New York, Sep- 
tember, 12, 1888, All his books are interesting to the general 
reader. 

Where are the leading Observatories ? 

Millions upon millions of dollars have been expended upon 
the science of Astronomy, and its present demands upon the 
productive capacity of the people are extraordinary. Obser- 
vatories have been erected in all parts of the world, fully 
equipped with the appliances necessary. Probably the most 

celebrated structure of this kind is at Greenwich, near London 

» 

under the supervision of Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal of 
England, a man of great attainments and ripe with many years 
of experience. Six observers and six computers assist him in 
his eminent labors. Mr. Adams, the co-discoverer of Neptune, 
was stationed at the Cambridge Observatory, in England. There 
are great observatories at Oxford, England and Edinburg, 
Scotland. On the Cape of Good Hope is one of the first-class 
observatories of the world. Another is situated at Madras, in 
India. In France, learned Astronomers nightly labor in the 
observatories of Paris, Marseilles, Nismes and Toulouse; in 
Germany, at Berlin, Gottingen, Dantzic, Konigsberg and Bonn; 
in Russia, at Pulkowa and Dorpat; in Italy, at Florence, Naples 
and Milan; in Austria, at Pola, and in the United States, at 
Washington (where the Moon of Mars was discovered), at Ann 
Arbor (where Professor Watson, an Astronomer of world wide 
fame, now of Madison, Wis., found so many Asteroids, and did 
the heaviest labors undertaken in America, outside of Washing- 
ton), at Cambridge, Mass, and at all the principal colleges in 
the country. Leland Stanford, one of the men who made a vast 
fortune out of the Pacific Roads, lost an only son, and endowed 
a University in California with more money than had ever before 
been given away. The Lick Telescope is a part of this gift. 



ASTRONOMY. 



535 



Charles T. Yerkes gave a great Telescope to the Chicago In 
vers v and the empty tube with its mountings, was one of the 

7«Jhts at the World's Fair of 1893. The vast mstrument 
^l^the Streefof Nations in the Manufactures Building. 
Th °: observatory for the Yerkes Telescope is at Lake Geneva, 
The observaro y donated by John Johnston, Jr. 

Wisconsin, * nd J% ftewtZcscor* for many years, and with 
SsXKur hamCrSd L studies of double stars that 
this, P»* esso ' throughout Europe. At Chicago, the 

u:ifT lb r^f" explaininl extraordinary celestial events to 
rpUe through ^^^^^ZS^Z 
SrColb°e n rt°, f TZ—^ossL* of great knowledge, 
exact mathematical skill, and unceasing industry. 

What is the present aspeet of Astronomical science ? 

Marvelous advances in photography, chemistry and spectro- 
sco Tnave set the Astronomers ^J^££?Z 

^'bler^re'im^remrof tTeV^Pe «• "< 
Cportan; A^tronZcal feat. The discovery of Mars' Moons 
was the last of our heavenly surprises. 



THE 



END. 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



^CCUMCLATOR 
Accumulators 



Acids 

Acids, Organic 

Adams ... 

Air 

Air-analysis 

Air, brake 

Air-compressor 

Air-gun - 

Air-pump - 

Airy . 

Alcohols 

Alden Process of Drying Fruit 

Aldehydes, The 

Alkali - 

Alkali Metals, The - 

Alkaline Earths, The 

Allotropic ... 

Allspice - 

Almond 

Alexandria ... 

Aluminium - 

American Pottery 

Amber 

Ampere, Andre - 

Ampere, the Unit of Current 

Amides, The 

Amines, The - 

Ammonia Apparatus - 

Ammonia - 

Description of 
Amoeba, The - 
Aniline - 

Aniline Dyes, The - 
Anode - 
Anhydrides, The 
Anthracite 
Antimony - 
Apples - 
Apr: j 



page 

71 

43, 44 

201 

• 246 
534 

- 227 
25? 

• 106 
107 

- 110 
243 

- 534 
245 

- 150 
246 

- 128 
267, etc. 



241 

- 177 

170 

- 514 
278-292 

- 450 
19 
21 
21 

• 250 
248 

- 248 
848 

- 253 
317 

- 248 
249, etc. 

97 
247 

- 345 
288-292 

149, etc. 
153 



Arago 

Arc. Voltaic 

Arctic Overshoes - 

Argon 

Arkwright 

Armature 

Arsenic, Description 

Arsenic Group, The 

Asbestos 

Ash-dump 

Asphalt-refiner 

Asteroids, The . • 

Astronomy, Chapter on 

Astronomical Distances 

Astronomical Measurcrne 

Atmosphere, The - 

Atomic Theory 

Atomic Weight of the Elements 

Avosadro's Hypothesis 

Axminister Carpets 

gABCOCK'S Milk Tester - 
Baker's Oven - 

Baking Powder, How Mad. - 

Banana, The 

Barium - 

Barley . 

Barney. General 

Battery, A Modern 

Beans 

Beet Sugar 

Beet Sugar Factory 

Beeves, How Killed - 

Begh, Ulugh 

Bell's Radiophone 

Bell's St-cond Telephone 

Bell's Telephone Mouth-Piece 

Bell's Telephone Receiver 

Blackberry 

Blackpool, Eng, 

Blake's Telephone Transmitter 



459, 



Page 
531 

• 20 
413 

• 292 
381 

• 32 
287-292 

287 

• 272 
111 

- 109 
477 

etc 
488 

- 511 
467 

- 233 
292,293 

- 229 
397 



- 135 
117 

- 128 
122 

269-292 

- 123 

73 

- 29 
130 

- 302 
303, etc. 

- 197 
517 

- 102 



67 

156 

46 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Block Signals 106 

Bicycle, Chapter on - - - 319 

Bigelow's Demonstration - 36 

Big Dipper, The - - - 496 

Bioplasm 316 

Biscuit (China) - - - 438 

Bismuth - . - 288-292 

Bitumen - 344 

Bode's Law - - - - 476 

Borax ... - 265 

Borchers, Dr. - - - - 79 
Borden, Gail, and Condensed Milk 145 

Boron, Description of 265-292 

Bradley - - - - 528 

Brazil Nut - - - 171 

Bread ... - H3, etc. 

Brick Tea as Money - - 190 

Bricks with Straw, Why - - 438 

Broadcloth 394 

Bromine - 259-292 

Brott System of Railway - 80 

Brush's Arc Light 51 

Srussells Carpets - - - 396 

Buckwheat 126 

Buda-Pesth 46 

Buffalo's Electric System - 87 
Bulbs of Glass, Why They are Made 245 

Burglar-Proof Safes Spoiled - 90 

Burnham, Prof. - - - 535 

Butter, Its History - - 131-137 

Butterine Factory - - 142 

Butternut - - - - 169 



pADMIUM 
Cassium 
Calcium - * 

Calculus, Explanation of 
Calendar, The 
Calico - 
Calker 
Camellia 

Camembert Cheese - 
Candies, Polished 
Candies, Small 
Candle, The 
Candy, French 
Candy, Rock 
Caoutchouc - 
Capacity 
Caramel 
Caraway 
Carbon 

Carbon Compounds 
Car Cleaner 



- 271-292 
269-292 

- 269-292 
Simple 524 

467 

etc. 

109 

188 



314 
313 
338 
314 
312 
410 
21 
313 
178 
240-292 
239 
109 



Carpets 

Carpet Weaving - 

Castile Soap 

Catalysis 

Cathode 

Catsup Factories - 

Centrifugal Machines for Sugar 

Cerite - 

Cerium 

Charcoal 

Chassagne's Photographs 

Cheese .... 

Cheese Grotto in Baden 

Chemical Equations 

Chemical Formulas 

Chemical Tools . 

Chemistry, Chapter on 

Chemistry, Organic . 

Chemistry, Its Usefulness 

Cherry .... 

Cheshire Cheese Press 

Chestnut .... 

China and Pottery, Chapter 

Chinaware in China 

Chinchillas 



Chinese All Wore Silk 

Chlorine 

Chlorine Accumulator 

Chlorine Apparatus 

Chocolate 

Chow-Chow . 

Chromium . 

Cinnamon 

Citron .... 

Citrus Family 

Clairaut 

Clamond Generator 

Cloth Scouring . 

Clothes, Chapter on 

Cloves .... 

Club House Cheese 

Coal .... 

Coal Breakers 

Coal Dump . 

Coal Geology 

Coal Mining 

Cobalt 

Cocoa : 

Cocoa Butter . 

Cocoa Butterine 

Cocoa Nuts 

Cocoa Nuts in Candy 

Cocoons, Keeling . 



Once 



on 



PAGB 

296, etc. 

- 396 

- 32: 

- 19 
97 

• 200 

• 299 

• 289 
289-292 

349 

: 331 

137, etc. 

. 136 

237 

. 237 

. 244 

225, etc. 

250 

. 291 

153 

. 140 



436, etc. 

439 

. 372 

365 

257,292 

71 

. 231 

192, 314 

. 200 

280,292 

. 176 

166 

. 158 

530 

. 79 

394 

. 355 

174 

. 141 

344, etc. 

. 345 

110 

. 348 

345, etc. 

881,291 

144, 1P'2 

. 194 

144 

. 167 

315 

. 358 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Coffee 181, 273 .-tc. 

Copper 



374 



Coke .... 

Colbert .... 

Color Analysis of Sugar 

Colortype Printing 

Combs, Black 

Comets .... 

Commutator 

Compressed Air 

Compressed Air Locomotive 

Compressed Air Power Hon 

Condensed Milk 

Condensers 

Controller . 

Copernicus 

Corn . 

Corn Canning 

Corn Oil 

Corn Oil Cake 

Cornell. Ezra 

Cotton 373, eto.: Histo 

Machinery . 
Cotton Fibres . 
Cotton, Illustration 
Cotton Seeds 
Cotton Yarn . 
Coulomb, C. A. de 
Coulomb, The Unit of Quantity 

Cowboys 

Crackers 

Cranberries 

Cream Separator . 

Creamery 

Crochet Thread 

Crookes Prof. 

Crystals 

Crystal Measuring 

Crystal, The Word 

Cucumbers, Bottling 

Currants 

Cut Glass 

Cyanogen . 



340 
535 
300 
331 
413 
102, 509,506 



35 

105, etc. 

109 

107 

145 

43 



11 



The Va 



TVALEMBERT 
Dalton, John 
Dates 

Davies'Bulb 
Davy, Sir H. . 
De Brie Cheese . 
Decipium 
Dentrecolles, Pere 
Dextrine 
Dialysis 



517 
etc. 
164 
118 
118 
23 



377 
374 
294 
375 
375 
2L 
21 
198 
127 
165 
133 
132 
387 
97 
233 
234 
424 
199 
164 
426 
251 



530 
209 
148, 164 
100 
45 
139 
292 
439 
304 
302 



Page 

Diamonds Made . , . .241 

Didymium ..... 2>.< 

Diffraction 216 

Diffusion Theory, Sugar . . 302 

Dish, The First 437 

Drawing Frame .... 379 

Drop Forging ., ... 320 
Du Halde ...... 439 

Dynamo 29, 32 

" Theory of .... 34 
Multipolar Dynamo . . 37.48,56 

pARTH, The ----- 466 

11 Eclipses 502 

Edison's Carbon Telephoue Transmit- 
ter 69 

Edison's Kineto-Phonographic Theatre 82 

Edison's Incandescent Light - 51 

Its Manufacture - - - - 52 

Edison's X Ray Lamp 100 

Egyptian Astronomy - - - - 513 

Electricity - 17 

Origin of the Word 19 

Law of Congress - 21 

Speed ..... 25. 45 

War - 77, 90 

Electricity in Chemistry - - - 239 
Electric Arc Light 49 

Electric Bridge 41 

Electric Fan - 76 

Electric Fountain - 57 

Electric Heaters .... 46 

Electric Launch H 

Electric Log ----- 78 
Electric Measurement - - 21, 47 
Electric Meters - 

Electric Theatre 56 

Electric Ventilator - 76 

Electric Weed Killer - - - • 86 

Electrocution 

Electrolysis 18 

Electro-Magnet . 

Electrotyping & 

Electro Metallurgy .... 
Electro Motive Force . . .21, 47 
Electro-Plating ..... 
Elements, Table of . . . 291,292 
Elements, The . . . . 225, 292 
Elements That Are More Precious 

Than Gold 2 90 

Elements That Are Metals . . 239 

Emerald, The .....*■ 
Enamel .....•• 438 
English Cheeses 14 ° 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

English Walnut 171 

Equinoxes, Precession of . . 492 
Erbium ...... 289, 292 

Ethereal Salts, The .... 247 

Etheric Theory 18 

Ethers, The ..... 246 

Encke's Comet .... 509 

Euler ....... 530 

Exciting ...... 36 



pALSE FACES . . . . 435 

Farad, The Unity of Capacity 21 

Faraday, Michael .... 21 

Felt 398 

Felt Hats 398 

Ferris Wheel 319 

Field, Cyrus . . . . . .23 

Filters for Sugar . . . .301 

Fire Starting 454 

Flax Cloth, Pre-historic ... 355 

Flax Plant 401 

Flax Spinners ,..,... 402 
Floating Soaps ..... 328 
Flour, How Made .... 114 

Fluorescenoe 95 

Flourine 259, 292 

Fluoroscope . . . . . .99 

Force, Theory of .... 20 

Formulas, Chemical . . . .237 

Franklin's Pane .... 44 

Fraunhofer's Lines .... 216 

Frijoles 130 

Frog's Blood 317 

fADOLINIUM . . . 290,292 

^ J Galileo 522 

Gallium 290, 292 

Galvani . 45 

Gas Flash Lighter .... 88 
Gas Making . . . . 338, etc. 

Gas Meter 342 

Gases, Weighing ..... 230 
Gauze ....... 373 

Gay-Lussac ,296 

Geber, The Arabian Astronomer . 516 

Geissler Tube 96 

Generators for Vinegar , . . 204 
Germanium ...... 292 

Gerry, Elbridge .... 75 

Ginger 173 

Glass, Chapter on . . . 421, etc. 
Glass As a Chemical Compound . 422 
Glass Molds ... . 423 



PAGE 

Glaze on Pottery . . . .437 

Glucinum ...... 292 

Glucoses 296, 309 

Glucose Factory, Description of . 309 
Gluten .... . H8 

Gold ...... 292 

Gold, Description of . . 275, etc. 

Gold Chemicals .... 276 

Gold Cure 276 

Goodyear, Charles .... 414 

Gooseberry 166 

Graham Bread, Origin of Name . 129 

Grapes 157 

Gravitation ..... 526 

Gray, Prof. . 47,64,73 

Gray's Telephone . . . 65 

Grove, W. R. ..... 17, 19 

Gum Drops 313 

Gunpowder 269 

Gutta Purcha . . . . . 408 
Gymnote . 77 

1JAEMOSCOPE, The 218 

Halides, The Acid 247 

Halley .-..'... 528 
Halogens, The - 257 

Hazel Nut ------ 170 

Heat ------ 333 

Helium ------ 219,292 

Henry, The unit of induction - 21 

Henry, Prof. Joseph ... g] 
Herschel 529 

Herschel's Illustration - - - 485 

Hickory nut 170 

Hipparchus 514 

History of Astronomy - - 512, etc. 
Holmium ------ 290, 886 

Hominy 118 

Horseradish - 173 

Howe, Elias 4 IS 

Hydrogen .... - 256, 808 
Hydro carbons ----- 245 

|CE, Chapter on 860 

Ice Factory . - - - - &M 

Ide, Meaning of this word-ending - 231 

India Rubber, Chapter on - • 40t 

Indium ------ 279, 888 

Induction 81 

Defined ----- 2J 

Ingrain Carpets - - - - 806 

Interference ------ 816 

Iodine ----- - 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Iridium 282,292 

Iron 292 

44 Description of - - - - 279 
44 Group, The • - • 277, etc. 



TABLOCHKOFF Candle ... 49 
J Jacquard .... 368, etc. 
Jenny, Hargreaves' .... 384 
Jews, How they kill their Beeves . 197 

Johnston, John 535 

Joule, Dr. J. P 17,21 

Joule, The unit of work ... 21 

Jupiter, The Planet . . . .479 

Moons .... 479 

Jute 405 

TTAO-LIN . . 439,441 

Kay, John 368 

Kelvin, Lord . 86 

Keramler 75 

Kepler 518 

Kepler's Laws .... 519, etc. 

Kerosene 334 

Ketones, The 246 

Kinetosoope .... 81, 333 
Kumyss 146 



T JEVULOSE Sugar . . . .305 
Lace-making .... 388 

Lanthanum 289, 292 

LaPlace 530 

Lead . . . . • • . .292 
44 Compounds .... 277 

44 Group 277, etc 

44 Pipe ...... 277 

Lemon 160 

Le Pontois, Leon, Prof. ... 90 

Leverrier 484, 532 

Life, Chapter on (See table of contents 

in front) 316 

Light and Heat, Chapter on . 330, etc. 

Lime, The 162 

Lime, Process in sugar making . 298 

Lincrusta-Walton . 405 

Liebeg,Prof 224 

Linen 400, etc. 

Lines of Force 31 

Linoleum 404 

Litharge .278 

Lithium 267,292 

Locofocos 455 

Looking glasses ..... 275 





PAGB 


Loom, The .... 


. 366, etc. 


Turkish loom . . . 


367 


Indian loom 


. 368 


Power loom 


269 


Old-time loom . 


.370 


Why looms are noisy 


370 


Lace-weaving . . . 


. 387 


Carpets , 


. 396 


Lozenges .... 


. 314 


Leyden Jar .... 


44 


jyTACARONI 


. 125 


Mace .... 


; 175 


Mackintosh, The word . , 


. 414 


Magnesium .... 


292 


44 Group, The 


. 270 


Magnet . 


. 30,45 


Magnetic Field 


. 31 


Malt 


203 


Manganese .... 


. 280 


Manilla .... 


405 


Map-making .... 


. 90 


Marco Polo 


441 


Marconi's Discovery . 


. 102 


Marignac 


. 290 


Mars, The planet . 


. 474 


Matches, Chapter on 


453, etc. 


History .... 


. 453 


Maxim's Electric Meter . 


63 


Meats 


. 196, etc. 


44 Trust, The 


198 


Mecanique Celeste 


. 530 


Melons .... 


165 


Melting Point 


. 227 


Meltons 


394 


Menacite ..... 


. . 290 


Mercury , 


292 


44 Description of 


. 272, etc. 


Mercury, The Planet 


463 


Meteors . ... 


. 503 


Meters, Electric , 


62 


Middlings Purifier 


. 115 


Milk 


130, etc. 


Millet .... 


. 122 


Mill Explosions 


. 115 


Millimeter 


. 333 


Mince Meat Factory . 


- . 178 


Mining Experts' Formula . 


. 276 


Minus 


, 19, 43, 50 


Mixer, for sugar . 


. 299 


Moissan, M. Henri 


. 242 


Molasses 


. 305 


Molecular Theory 


233 


Molecular Weight Apparatus 


. . 232 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



Molybdenium 
Moon, The 
Moquette Carpets 
'Mordant . 
Morse, Prof. S. F. I 
Morse's Telegraph 
Mosaic Pavements 
Mosandrinm . 
Motor, Electric . 

" Negro's 

*' Modern Type 
Motor-cycles . 
Mourning Crape . 
Mourning Pins 
Mulberry Speculation 
Mule, Self- Acting . 
Multiplex Telegraphy 
Multipolar Magnet 
Mustard .... 
Mill Explosions 
Napier and His Logarithms 
Nebulae ..... 
Nectarine .... 
Needles and Pins, Chapter on 
Negative Elements . 
Neodymium .... 
Neptune, the Planet, Date of 

covery 
Neutral . 

Newton, Sir Isaac . 
Niagara, chaining of 
Nicetas . 

Nickel .... 
Niobium .... 

Nitrates of Commerce, The 

Nitrogen 

Nitrogen, description of . 
Nitro-glycerine . . 
North Star, The . 
Nutmegs and Mace 



QATS .... 

Ocean Cable 

How the Messages are read 

Ocean Cable, how laid 

Ohm, G.S 

Ohm, the Unit of Resistance 
Ohm's Law , 

OilCloth 

Oil refining .... 

Oil wells 333 

Oleomargarine .... 131, 142 
Orange 158 



PAGE 

289, 292 

. 470 

396 

. 390 

23 

. 22 

452 

292 

38 

39 

40 

73 

361 

419 

363 

385 

26 

58 

173 

115 

523 

494 

156 

418 

236 

292 



its d 



289 



458. 



483 

. 143 

523, etc. 

83, etc. 

. 514 

282, 292 

. 294 

252 

. 292 

etc. 

252 

498 

175 



251 



337, 



119 
23 
24 
24 
21 
21 
47 

406 
etc. 



Organic Acids . 
Organic Chemistry 
Organo-metallic Bodies, The 
Orion .... 
Osmium .... 
Oxygen, meaning of the word 
Oxygen and Nitrogen . 
Oxygen, description of . 
Oxygen ..... 
Ozone . 



783 



PAGE 

246 
. 239 
247 
. 532 
292 
226 
231 
254 
292 
2.5 



pAINTING Machine . . 

Palladium 
Paper, Chapter on 

" History of . 

" How cut . 

" How Water-marked 

" How Glazed . 

" How Hand-made . 
Papier-mache 
Paradox .... 
Parhelia, or Mock Suns 
Parmesan Cheese . , 
Paste in Chinaware making 
Pate-sur-pate 
Peach 

" Canning . 

Peanut 

Pears 

Pecan . 

Pepper ..... 

Pepper. Prof. 

Pepper's Ghost . 

Permanganese. 

Petroleum .... 

Pe-tun-ste .... 

Photographic Chemistry . 

Phosphorus 

Phosphorescence 

Piazzi ..... 

Pickles, Vinegar, etc. 

Pickle Factories . 

Pineapple .... 

Pins 

Piutsch Light. 

Pistachio Nut 

Plante's Storage Battery . 

Platinum . 

Platinum Group, The 

Plum 

Plus 

Plush - 
Pneumatic Tu^eg 



. 109 
282, 292 
429, etc. 
429 
433 
433 
433 
433 
434 
490 
462 
139 
438 
448 
151 
152 



150 

171 

172 

. 91 

329, 334 

. £81 

335 

441,449 

m 

864, 808 

06 

. 589 

199, etc. 

. 199 

166 

418. etc 

343 
. 171 

n 

- 891 

164 

19, 18 

- 3V9 
11W 



INDEX OF CONTEXTS. 



PAGE 

Polarisoope 306 

Polarized Light 61 

Pomegranate 197 

Popp, Victor 107 

Porcelain, Origin of the word - - 439 

Portland Vase, The 428 

Positive Elements . 230 
Potassium, Character of - 268, 324, 293 

Potassium Chlorate - 269 

Potentials - 43 

Potter's Wheel, The 438 

Pottery, Chapter on - - - - 437 

Pottery in Europe- 444 

Pottery, its Chemistry - - - 451 
Praseodymium - - . 880, 293 

Precession of the Equinoxes - - 499 

Printing Calico 391 

Protoplasm - - - - - 315 

Proctor 533 

Prune -.---- 164 

Piolem\, the Astronomer - - 515 

Pythagoras 513 

QUANTITY 21 
Quinine, its molecule . .263 

■OAD1CLES 238 

Radiometer ..... 97 
Rainbow ...... 95 

Raisins 158 

Raspberry - 156 

Reckenzaun ------ 73 

Refrangibility 215 

Resistance - - - - 21, 47, 49 
Rhodium - - - - 282,293 

Rice, Planting 112 

M Plant ------ 119 

" Transplanting - - - 121 
■• Mill ------ 124 

Rock Drills ------ 108 

Roentgen, Dr., - - - 93. etc. 

M Portrait of - - 94 

Rogers' Synchronous Wheel - - 27 

Rosse, Lord ----- 533 

Rotifer, The ------ 317 

Roving-Frame ----- 382 

Rubber Tires ----- 321 

Rubber Weaving ... - 412 
Rubidium ----- 269, 193 

Ruhmkorff ----- 96 

Ruthenium - - - -• - 282, 293 

Bye 118 



PAGE 

CACCHROMETER, The 

Saccharoses ----- 296 
Safety-pins ----- 419 

Safety Match, The - - - - 456 

Sage -123, 178 

Saggers - - - - - . 443 

Salt ------- 207 etc, 

Salt Grotto ------ 203 

Saltpetre 268 

Samarium '.293 

Satin 366 

Saturn, the Planet 480 

Saturn's Moons 482 

Saturn's Rings ----- 481 
Savory - - ----- 178 

Scandium 290, 293 

Schmierkase - 139 

Schweizerkase ----- 139 
Search-light ----- 59, etc 
Seasons, The ----- 468 
Selenium - 259. 264, 293 

Serigiaph, The, for Silk 361 

Sevres Gold 484 

Sevres, its History - 445 

" Pottery at - 446 

Sheep, how butchered - - - 197 

Shoddy - - 399 

Show-lights 53 

Silicon, description of - - - - 266 

Silk, artificial 362 

Silk, conditioning - - - - 360 

Silk-worms 354, 357 

Silk Fibres 356 

Silicon, .... 273, etc., 293 

Silver Plate 274 

Silk Worm Rearing Establishment - 364 

Sirup 307 

Sisal - - 405 

Skirt-dancers 365 

Slip - - - 438 

Slubbing-Frame ----- 360 

Soap-making 324 

Soap, Chapter on 323, etc. 

M history 323 

Soda - 267, 324 

Sodium 218, 267, 293 

Soft Coal 347 

Soil-analysis 254 

Solenoid ------ 62 

Soret ------- 290 

Sorghum 312 

Soxhlets' Milk Apparatus - - - 134 

Spark Condenser - 217 

Specific Gravity - - - - 229, 230 




INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



Specific Heat 

Specific Heat of the Elements 

Spectral Apparatus - 

Spectral Analysis - 

Spectroscope, The 

Spectrum 

Spices - - - - 

Spindle, The - 

Spirit Lamps 

Star-Study 

Stars, in Space - 

11 Double Stars 
Stanford 

Starch - - . 
Steel - 
Stereoscope 
Stereopticon 
Sterilized Milk 
Stock Ticker 
Stockyards at Chicago 
Stone Crocks 
Storage Battery 
Straw , 

Strawberry . . 
Strawboard . 
Street Cables . 
Strontium 
Sugar and Alcohol 
Sugar Cane, its History 
Sugar, Chapter on 
Sugar, Making from Cane 
Sugar, Refineries . 
Sugar, Granulated 
Sugar, Pulverized 
Sugar, Adulterations 
Sugar Crystals 
Sugar, Maple 
Sugar from Milk . 
Sulphur 

Sulphur Group, The 
Sulphur, description of 
Sulphuric Acid 
Sulphur Compounds . 
Sun's Spectrum 
Sun, The 
Sun-Spots 

Swine, How Slaughtered 
Switch .... 
Symbols 
Symbols of all the Elements 



'"TABLE OP 

Tantalum 
Tapioca 



THE ELEMENTS 



PAGE 

235 

292, 293 

215 

- 219 
213 etc. 

- 214 
172 etc. 

- 376 
338 

- 219 
487 

- 495 
534 

125, 310 

- 279 

. 331 

332 

. 146 

26 

196, 198 

438 

. 71 

405 

. 154 

435 

. 36 

269, 293 

. 246 

295 

295, etc. 

297 

. 300 

301 

. 301 

301 

. 307 

308 

. 311 

293 

. 259 

260, etc. 

. 262 

263 

. 218 

461 

. 463 

196 

54 

236 

293 

292 
293 
128 



PAGE 

Tapestry Carpets . . . .396 
Tartar emetic 288 

Tea . 187, etc. 

Telautograph .... 73, etc. 
Telectrosoope, The ... 90, etc. 
Telephone .... 64, etc. 

Telephone, long distance ... 71 
Telephone newspaper at Buda Pesth 70 
Tellurium .... 259.264,293 

Terbium 290, 293 

Terra Cotta 452 

Tesl a . . . . . . 93, 101 

Tesla, Nicola 86 

Tesla's Oscillator .... 78 

Textile Grasses, The ... 405 

Thales 513 

Thallium .... 277, 278, 293 
Theatre, Electric effects, how produced 57 
Theatrophone at Paris ... 70 

Thermo Electricity .... 79 
Thermometer, Chemical . . 242 



Thio .... 

Thorium .... 

Thread-making . 

Throttle, The . 

Thulium 

Thyme .... 

Tin 

Tin Group, The 
Tin, its history etc. . 

" its vast importance 
Tin foil ..... 
Tin cans .... 
Tin scrap ..... 
Tin in silk . 

Tinder 

Titanium .... 

Tomato 

Tomato-canning, The process 

Transparent soap . 

Triple- effect 

Trolley cars .... 

Trolley train 

Trolley-wires .... 

Tungsten 898 

Tungsten Group, The . 

Tutty .....*. 

Tycho Brohe 5 is 



. 262 

289,293 

384, etc. 

383 

290, 293 

178 

293 

283 

284 

. 284 

285 

. 286 

287 

. 362 

454 

283,293 

162 

. 162 

387 

. 811 

88, -46 

42 

41 



292, 



fjLUGH Begh 

U ran in in . 
Uranus 

Ursa Major 






INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



TAGE 

1TACUUM-PAN, For Sugar . . 299 

Valency 239 

Vanadium .293 

Velvet .372 

Velvet Carpets 372 

Venus, The Planet .... 464 
Vesuvius, Mount .... 260 
Vienna Bread ..... 116 

Vinegar 201 

Vitriol ....... 262 

Volt, The Unit of Electro-Motive 

Force . . . . . . 21, 48 

Volta . 45 

11 Alessandro .... 21 
Voltaic Pile ..'... 45 
Vulcanizing Rubber .... 411 



-IITALL-PAI'ER . 

Walnut 
Watson .... 
Watt, James 
Watt, The unit of power 
Water, description of 
Weaving in the Bible . 
Weslsbach Light, The . 
Westinghouse Air Brake 
Whortleberry . 



434 
169 
534 
21 
21 
255 
368 
289 
105 
156 



PAGE 

Window glass .... 425 

Wintergreen berries ... 167 

Wire glass 428 

Wool 392, etc. 

Wool-fibres 392 

Wood pulp 430 

W T ool Scribbler 393 

Wood Pulp, Silk 110 

Woolen Stuffs 395 

Word-endings in Chemistry . . 240 

Work, 21 

Worsteds 395 

Writing-paper. How Ruled . . 434 

V RAY 93, etc. 

Y EAST 115 

Yerkes ...... 535 

Yttrium 289,293 

VINC 270,293 

Zinc, White ..... 271 
Zipernowsky's Arc Light . . 50 

Zodiac, The 486 

Zirconium .... 283, 293 




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